The Twilatrix
by angel eyes1 uk
Summary: We all know what happened in Twilight, and we all know what happened in The Matrix. What happens if you combine the two? Twilight characters acting out Matrix plot. Cullens/Volturi Agents.
1. Chapter 1 The Beginning

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

We all know what happened in Twilight, and we all know what happened in The Matrix. What happens if you combine the two?

Twilight characters acting out Matrix plot. Cullens/Volturi Agents.

**This is basically the Matrix played out with Twilight characters and some slight changes. There will be lots of copied dialogue, I'm afraid. **

~x~

Three dark figures walk towards the gathering of cars around the abandoned building. The usually desolate area is filled with red and blue flashing lights and the crackle of police radios.

Agent Jane pauses, puts her finger to her earpiece, and looks round impassively. "Chief Swan, you were given specific orders."

The moustached police officer replies in his thick, gravelly tone, "I think we can handle one little girl. I sent two units—they're bringing her down now."

Large, almost childlike eyes give a bored stare in his direction.

"No, Chief. Your men are already dead."

~x~

Flashlights move up the corridor, illuminating a damp, rotten door at the very end. Apprehensively, an armed cop, pistol aimed and ready, nods to his sturdier comrade behind him. With a grunt, the bottom of one flat foot strikes the door and the wood gives way easily.

"Freeze! Police!"

"Hands on your head."

The flashlights centre on a female figure—diminutive and dressed in tight black latex. She rises to her feet, her golden eyes focused on the wall in front of her as she complies with the cop's request. Her fingers link together on top of her dark, spiky hair.

One of the law enforcement officers approach; he almost gets close enough to slap a cuff on her tiny wrist before Alice twists around, a palm connecting with his face with lightning speed. Before a groan finishes passing his lips, the tiny bird-like girl leaps into the air, arms outspread, and with breathtaking grace she kicks him in the chest, sending him flying backward.

"Hai!" Alice kicks a chair into the cops crowded in the doorway, then impossibly runs up the wall as a barrage of bullets heads her way. She grabs the hand of one of the officers, and using his body as cover and his weapon as her own, she dispatches the others. Lifting her leg forward and up, Alice performs a kick that would make any dancer wince in agony; her human shield drops to the floor.

Not pausing for breath, she pulls out her cell.

"Carlisle, the line was traced—I don't know how."

"I know." A calm, reassuring voice speaks to her down the line. "They've cut the hard line. You're going to have to get to another exit."

"There's agents?"

"Yes."

"Goddamn it."

"Focus, Alice. There's a phone at Wells and Lake...you can make it. Go." Carlisle sounds as if he has every confidence in her—which is more than Alice has in herself.

She breaks into a sprint, but two Volturi agents arrive in the elevator that very second. Breaking harshly, Alice turns and runs the opposite way. Agents Demetri and Felix follow close behind her, through the dank corridors.

Bursting through a fire exit, Alice sees Agent Jane waiting in the alley below, and begins to climb the fire escape with silent ease—so do Agents Demetri and Felix, arriving on the rooftop only seconds behind her.

Pushing her legs with everything she's got, at speeds that any Olympic sprinter would marvel at, Alice travels across pitched, corrugated metal and flat tar roofs, leaping between the gaps.

Agent Demetri pauses to fire his weapon, hitting a chimney stack. Alice escapes by almost flying across a gap wider than any human can jump. She rolls and gets back on her feet without missing a step, taking cover with her back flat against a brick wall.

Moments later, Agent Felix lands on the roof behind her with a thud.

Hearing the click of the agent's weapon, a panting Alice looks around desperately, before spotting a tiny window on the building opposite. As a plan forms, her chest is still once more.

With a burst of speed, a black latex streak flies from her hiding place, off the roof, and breaks through the window. She falls down a flight of stairs, landing on her back with guns drawn, uncharacteristically shaken.

Unmoving, she waits to see if she is followed.

"Get up, Alice. Get up." She wills herself to her feet.

Outside, she looks around the corner to find the phone booth she needs—right as a passing garbage truck squeals to a halt, spinning so that it is facing her target.

The phone rings, and inside the truck, Agent Jane's face is set with grim determination.

As the truck's wheels begin to spin, Alice dashes forward, opening the door to the booth and picking up the phone. The truck's headlights get closer and Alice holds up a hand to brace herself as she puts the receiver to her ear. Her eyes are wide and unblinking.

The truck ploughs into the booth, and then pulls back. Agent Jane climbs out to inspect her handiwork. There is no body in the wreckage—Alice is gone.

~x~

Bella Swan is asleep with her head on her desk, the sound of Muse hissing through her earphones. On the screen there are news articles about the terrorists that seem to fascinate her so. Images of the legendary and terrible Cullens flicker, until suddenly, the screen goes black.

A green cursor blinks and Bella stirs. Sleepily, she stares at her screen.

The cursor moves along, followed by a string of letters.

_Wake up, Bella...the Matrix has you... _

"What the hell?" Bella lifts her fingers to the keyboard, trying to exit out of the programme.

_Follow the white rabbit. Knock, knock, Bella._

Bella frowns as she looks on in confusion, but suddenly jolts upright when there is a bang at the front door.

With a second look, she sees that that writing is gone and the screen is entirely dark. It must have been a dream—she had just woken up, after all.

Once she jogs down the stairs, she yells, "Who is it?" suspiciously.

"Mike."

Walking to the door, she opens it just as wide as the chain will allow. Standing there is blond Mike Newton, and draped around him is Jessica Stanley.

"You're two hours late," Bella says sternly.

"I know. It's her fault." Mike nods to Jessica, who gives him a meaningful smirk in return.

Bella heads to a cluttered bookcase and grabs the disk with the test answers she'd copied for them both earlier. Once he hands over a number of rolled up notes, she gives a disk each to Mike and then Jessica. To be a college football player, Mike needs to get through high school first, and thanks to Bella, it looks like Jess is going to be Valedictorian.

The fact of the matter is that Bella has the brain, she just lacks the funds for a decent college education. Bella's beaten up and unreliable truck is testament to her financial difficulties. Fortunately for her, one thing she does have is the technological knowhow to take legally grey—very dark grey—shortcuts.

"Something wrong, Bella?" Mike asks, genuinely concerned. "You look a little whiter than usual."

"My computer it..." Bella shakes her head. "You ever have that feeling when you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?"

"All the time," Jessica answers with a smile.

"Sounds to me like you like you need to unplug, 'Zona. Get some R 'n' R." Mike says jovially as he punches her in the arm. He then turns to his girlfriend. "What do you think, Jess? Should we take her with us?"

Jessica eyes up Bella as she moves in toward Mike territorially. "Definitely. Come on—it'll be fun. I promise."

"I can't. I'm—" As Jessica angles herself, Bella catches sight of a tattoo on her shoulder—a white rabbit.

_Follow the white rabbit._

Bella changes her mind about staying home instantly. "Yeah. Sure."

~x~

Bella stands in the corner of a house party, looking at the various bodies dancing, standing about, or generally having drunken fun. On the stereo, a voice screams over heavy guitars. She can see Mike and Jessica mingling across the room, but this really isn't Bella's scene.

Looking down at the amber substance in her plastic cup, she knows she's going to regret this when it's time to get up for her Saturday job tomorrow.

Feeling watched, Bella looks over her shoulder. Quite possibly the most beautiful boy she's ever seen approaches. He's tall and pale, with bronze-coloured hair and a jaw so angled it could be used as a snow plough. He is wearing a tight black sweater under a long dark coat; it's not hard to see that his body is muscular in a slim, understated way.

Bella's insides almost crumble—then she prepares herself to be asked where the keg is...again.

The Greek god pauses in front of her, but when he speaks, he says, "Hello, Bella."

Surprised to be addressed so personally, Bella turns to face him.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot about you." His voice is even and almost hypnotic.

"Who are you?" Bella asks, her interest piqued by more than just his unearthly good looks. She tries to place the face. Though he seems familiar, she can't put a name to him—and something tells her that he isn't someone she knows from school.

"My name is Edward."

Bella pauses and thinks—then something hits her. She's seen this face numerous times before, but never in real life. It's the face of one of her obsessions—the elusive and daring anarchist group that seem so difficult for the authorities to apprehend that Bella had almost convinced herself they were urban legend.

"Edward. _The_ Edward Cullen—that cracked the IRS d-base?"

"That was a long time ago." He is matter of fact—he doesn't take the opportunity to brag like most of the boys she knows would.

"Jesus."

"What?"

"I just thought, um..." Bella trails off. She never expected a fellow computer hacker to be so...good looking. "That was you on my computer. How did you do that?"

"Right now all I can tell you is that you're in danger." Looking pained, Edward takes a step closer to her. "I brought you here to warn you. They're watching you, Bella." Edward's golden eyes bore into Bella's. If a warning is what he was wanting to give, then it is definitely working—her entire body feels on edge.

"Who is?"

"Please...just listen." Edward closes the gap until there are barely inches between them. Bella takes a deep breath, and then wishes she hadn't as his scent invades her nostrils, intoxicating her more than any alcohol that she has consumed that night.

His voice whispers in her ear. "I know why you're here, Bella. I know what you've been doing...why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit by your computer."

Bella's head races over why this boy—because he couldn't be any older than she was—seems to know so much about insignificant little her. How long had he been watching her? _How_ had he been watching her? Had he been in her room?

Edward continues, seemingly unfazed by the proximity. "You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him—I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Bella. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did."

Bella doesn't even have to think—the words are on the tip of her tongue. "What is the Matrix?"

"The answer is out there, Bella, and it's looking for you. It will find you if you want it to."

Edward pulls away, and Bella turns to find the slightest of gaps between their faces. For a second she thinks that they are going to kiss, but then he steps back and disappears into the crowd that Bella only just remembers is there.

~x~

The next thing Bella is aware of is the urgent beeping of her alarm clock.

Rolling over, Bella looks at the flashing numbers. "Shit."

She is late—again. Mrs Newton is going to kill her...or even worse, dock her wages.

~x~

On Monday, Bella is making her way from English to Biology when someone pushes something into her hands. At first, the shortness in height and the dark hair makes her think it was Eric Yorkie—her fellow computer geek.

"Have a nice day." The voice is sweet and high-pitched—definitely female. The girl does not pause to explain.

Bella watches her quickly disappear into a classroom, before looking down at what it is that she has been given. In her hands, Bella holds an envelope. Opening it, she pulls out a phone which rings instantly. She looks around before putting it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Bella. Do you know who this is?" The voice is English and softly spoken. It is exactly what she imagines him to sound like from the grainy photos she's found on the web.

Bella lowers her voice. "Carlisle Cullen?"

"Yes. I've been looking for you, Bella." He speaks with a sad undertone. "I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, you and I have run out of time. They're coming for you, Bella, and I don't know what they're going to do."

"Who's coming for me?"

"Go into the classroom to your left, it's empty, and look out of the window."

Bella complies, and through the glass she sees a number of police cars below—in the centre, a short blonde girl who looks very young appears to be giving out orders. Her head turns towards Bella, and despite the shades, Bella knows she is staring right at her.

"Oh, shit," Bella hisses.

"Yes."

The agents make a move towards the school entrance.

"What the hell do they want from me?"

"I don't know. If you don't want to find out I suggest you get out of there."

"How?"

"I can guide you, but you must do exactly as I say." There is something about Carlisle's voice that is easy to trust.

After a moment's pause, Bella replies, "Okay."

"The classroom across from you is empty."

"Wait. What if they—"

"Go now."

Bella stumbles through the throng of bodies to the biology classroom across the corridor. It is empty, just as Carlisle said. She puts her back to the wall, and gasping for breath, she brings the phone back to her ear.

Agent Jane walks into the classroom in which she'd seen Isabella Swan—the target—only a minute earlier. She is gone.

"Stay here for just a moment," Carlisle whispers down the phone, and without thinking, Bella holds her breath and nods her reply. She hears her pursuers find the room empty and move on.

"When I tell you, go down the corridor to the office at the end of the hall. Stay as low as you can."

The phone goes silent for two seconds.

"Go now."

Bella takes a step out of the room, backing away as she sees a policeman looking the other way. Disguising herself amongst the student body, she goes the way she has been told to go, relieved to close the office door behind her.

"Good. Now, outside there's a scaffold."

"How do you know all this?"

"We don't have time, Bella. To your left there's a window. Go to it. Open it."

Bella makes her way over to the window to see the maintenance works at the front of the building. As she looks out, she also realises that she is on the first floor.

"Use the scaffold to get to the roof."

"Wait! No way!" Bella cries in disbelief. Was this stranger trying to kill her? She couldn't even keep her footing on flat earth, never mind a window ledge. "This is crazy."

"There are two ways out of this building. One is that scaffold. The other is in their custody. You take a chance either way. I leave it to you."

"This is insane. Why is this happening to me?" Pulling the phone away, Bella chews her lip and paces. "What did I do?"

She walks over to the window and opens it, climbing up and putting a foot onto the ledge beyond. Looking down, she notices the height of the potential fall. Bella quickly pulls back.

"Shit."

With a deep breath, she steps onto the ledge again, pressing herself back against the window frame and inching along toward the scaffold. When she comes across a gap between windows where there is no ledge, she tries to stretch across. As she extends herself, the phone falls out of her hand. It seems to hang in the air for a second, before gravity takes hold and it crashes to earth.

Distracted, Bella almost slips but somehow manages to hang on.

"I can't do this," she whispers to herself.

~x~

Waiting in the parking lot in a shiny, silver Volvo, Alice sees a commotion in her rear view mirror. Agents bundle Bella Swan into the back of a dark-coloured van.

As she watches, Agent Jane stops and looks around. Their eyes met in the reflective surface.

"Shit."

Alice presses the gas, car tyres squealing as she goes.


	2. Chapter 2 Interrogation

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

More of the same. If you read the first chapter, you know the drill.

~x~

Bella looks around the room—it's bare. In fact, it's so bare that it scares her. Everything is the same intimidating shade of grey. The plainness of the table, the smoothness of the walls…it makes her want to spill all she knows so she can get out of there as soon as possible.

She shifts awkwardly in the uncomfortable chair, the pressure building in her brain whistling as it hits fever pitch.

Then the door opens, and Agents Jane, Felix, and Demetri slowly enter. The smaller of the three flops a large manila file on the table and it lands with a thud. Bella flinches and then looks up at the two other agents which now flank her on either side.

Agent Jane sits on the opposite side of the desk, and the room is so oppressively quiet that every creak can be heard as she settles and then opens the heavy file. She flicks through a number of pages with a poor impression of interest.

"As you can see we've had our eye on you for some time now, Miss Swan."

Bella looks down at her hands, which are twisted into a knot in her lap.

"It seems that you've been living two lives. One life, you're Isabella Marie Swan, quiet, clumsy student with good grades. Your father is a police lieutenant, your mother is married to a minor leagues baseball player, and you very recently moved to Forks. The other life is lived in computers, where you are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for." Agent Jane flips the file closed and inclines her head slightly. "One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.

"I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Miss Swan. You're here because we need your help." Agent Jane looks disgusted by the idea. "We know that you've been contacted by a certain individual—Carlisle Cullen. Whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive."

Agent Jane's intense eyes bore into Bella's, and Bella looks away guiltily. Agent Jane leans in closer.

"My colleagues—" She nods to Agents Demetri and Felix. "—Believe that I'm wasting my time with you. But I believe that you wish to do the right thing. We're willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start. All that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice."

"Yeah." Bella's eyes follow the file as Agent Jane symbolically pushes it aside. "That sounds like a pretty good deal, but I have a better one. How about…I give you the finger…and you give me my phone call." Bella raises her middle digit and stares back rebelliously.

With the briefest of looks at Bella's insulting gesture, Agent Jane seems unfazed. "Miss Swan, you disappoint me."

Bella, feeling brave, replies with a little more fire in her voice. "You can't scare me with this Gestapo crap. I know my rights. I want my phone call."

A sadistic smile creeps across Agent Jane's face. "Tell me, Miss Swan. What good is a phone call if you're unable to speak?"

Bella looks confused, and after a while she tries to ask what Agent Jane means but the words won't come out—they stick in her throat, and her lips and jaw feel…strange. Her mouth closes of its own volition, and when Bella tries to force it open, it feels like she's trying to tear her own skin apart, only for it to reseal itself immediately.

Stumbling to her feet and backing into a corner, almost tripping over a chair as she moves, Agents Demetri and Felix grab her and lift her struggling body to the table. Her sweater is pulled up over her stomach as they continue to hold her down.

Agent Jane casually walks around the table, pulling a small metal item out of her pocket.

"You're going to help us, Miss Swan, whether you want to or not."

She presses a switch and a red light pulses before Agent Jane dangles the device over her stomach. To Bella's surprise, it bursts into a semi-transparent insect-like creature, with long, thin tentacles instead of legs. Bella writhes desperately, still unable to cry out due to her sealed lips as whatever-it-is lands on her abdomen.

The tentacles explore inside her navel and the creature draws itself inside. Much to Bella's horror, she sees the very end of its tail wriggle and then disappear.

She sits up and tries to use her suddenly free hands to brush it away, but then looks around herself, feeling disorientated.

She's wearing a dark blue t-shirt and lying in bed—her bed. She's alone and there is no creature.

Bella bites her lip and runs a finger through her hair, shaking her head in disbelief.

It was a dream—just a dream.


	3. Chapter 3 Through the Looking Glass

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

~x~

Bella, sitting up in bed, touches her fingers to her lips—they aren't fused together. She can't help but laugh at the bizarre dream she just had.

The phone beside the bed rings harshly and Bella jumps. Reaching over, she cautiously holds it to her ear.

"Hello…"

"This line is tapped so I must be brief," Carlisle's already familiar voice says to her through the receiver. "They got to you first but they underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know, you would probably be dead."

Bella pushes her hair behind her ears as she contemplates whether the interrogation and that…thing might have been real. "What are you talking about? What is happening to me?"

"You are The One, Bella. You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I've spent my entire life looking for you." Bella tries to comprehend what Carlisle is saying to her. "Now do you still want to meet?"

_Maybe I've rolled over and fallen asleep again_? Bella wonders. Still, even in her dreams, this is the closest she's ever gotten to finding anything out about the Cullens.

"Yes."

"Then go to Forks High parking lot."

~x~

Bella is waiting in the rain and the dark when a black Mercedes pulls up. It pulls alongside her and a door opens. The short, spiky-haired girl from school climbs out and smiles in her direction. She is dressed in expensive-looking black clothing.

"Get in."

Bella complies and sees Edward in the driver's seat, also wearing black. Their eyes meet in the rear view mirror.

As she sits, a blonde girl in the front seat turns around and points a gun at her face.

"What the hell is this?" Bella asks.

"It's necessary, Bella, for our protection." A sing-song voice beside her explains.

"From what?"

"Listen to me." The blonde woman speaks—her tone is curt. "We don't have time for twenty questions. Right now there's only one rule—our way…or the highway."

Bella looks around at the three pairs of golden eyes trained on her. "Fine." She goes to climb out of the vehicle, but is stopped by the dark-haired girl's hand on her arm.

"Please, Bella. You have to trust us. Because you have been down there. You know that road—you know exactly where it ends, and I know that's not where you want to be."

The girl's words ring true, and the pleading look on her face seems genuine so Bella climbs back inside.

As soon as the door clicks closed, Edward pulls away; the dark-haired girl looks at the blonde woman.

"Rosalie, lights." She then turns back to Bella. "Lie back. Lift up your shirt."

The girl picks up a large, mechanical piece of equipment and suspends it over Bella's now exposed stomach.

"What is that thing?"

"We think you're bugged. Try and relax."

It's easier said than done as Alice places the machine over Bella's belly button.

An image appears on the screen like an ultrasound scan. Something is wriggling inside of Bella.

"It's on the move. You're going to lose it." Bella is slightly relieved to see that Rosalie, the blonde, speaks to everyone with an attitude.

"No, I'm not. Clear!"

There is a loud clunk and a strange sensation in Bella's insides. Suddenly, in a glass compartment attached to the machine, there's a semi transparent creature wriggling.

"Jesus Christ. That thing's real?"

Alice opens the window and empties whatever it is out into the night.

~x~

Inside a sleazy old hotel, Edward leads Bella to a large pair of double doors. For the first time since the party, he speaks to her.

"This is it. Let me give you one piece of advice. Be honest—he knows more than you can imagine."

Edward opens the doors and walks inside—Bella follows.

A blond-haired figure is standing in front of a pair of rotting drapes. He turns round and gives a winning movie star smile.

"At last. Welcome, Bella. As you no doubt have guessed, I'm Carlisle."

Edward leads Bella a little closer to the leader of the Cullens and she follows shyly. "It's an honour to meet you."

She holds out her hand and he takes it. His hand is cold.

"No, the honour is mine." Carlisle gestures toward a pair of shabby leather armchairs. "Please, come, sit."

Apprehensively, Bella seats herself, holding herself stiff and noticing a single glass of clear liquid on a small table between the chairs. Across the room, Edward exits through another less shabby set of double doors, and Carlisle pauses by the opposite chair.

"I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice…tumbling down the rabbit hole, hmm?"

Never taking removing her gaze from Carlisle, Bella notices that he has the same golden eyes and is wearing slick, expensive-looking black clothing as the others. "You could say that."

"I can see it in your eyes—you have the look of a girl who accepts what she sees because she is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth."

Carlisle walks behind the armchair, caressing its back as he moves.

"Do you believe in fate, Bella?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because…I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my own life." Bella speaks with confidence for the first time since entering the room.

"I know _exactly_ what you mean." He sits in the chair, crossing his legs and playing with a small metal box in his hands. "Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something—what you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life—that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"The Matrix?"

Carlisle stops playing with the box. "Do you want to know what _it _is?"

Still staring at him intently, Bella nods.

"The Matrix is everywhere. It's all around us, even in this very room." Bella listens to Carlisle, barely able to breathe as he speaks. "You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes…it is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."

Mesmerized, Bella leans forward. "What truth?"

Carlisle also leans closer, his voice barely a whisper. "That you are a slave, Bella. Like everyone else you were born into bondage—born into a prison that you cannot smell, or taste, or touch. A prison for your mind."

With a sigh, he leans back into the armchair. "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

He takes something out of the box he's been playing with and comes closer to Bella once more, holding out two closed fists.

"This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back." He opens one hand—there is a blue capsule in his palm. "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe whatever you want to." He opens his other hand. "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland…and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes."

Bella pauses, a million thoughts running through her mind. Is Carlisle Cullen offering her drugs? Should she take one of the pills, and if so, which one?

Chewing her lip, she finally makes a move towards the red pill but freezes as Carlisle speaks again.

"Remember, all I'm offering you is the truth—nothing more."

Still staring at Carlisle, Bella puts the pill in her mouth and reaches for the glass of water—its purpose now obvious. This is meant to be—Bella's whole time on earth has been bringing her to this moment. For the first time, she begins to wonder if there is such a thing as fate, and that she was only ever going to choose the red pill.

As Bella puts down her glass, Carlisle gets to his feet. "Follow me."

Bella stays close behind him as he walks through the double doors to a room filled with computer terminals and other machines.

Carlisle looks at the dark-haired girl. "Alice, are we online?"

"Almost." Alice gives Bella a wink.

Edward, Rosalie, and a Cullen she's not been introduced to yet are busy wiring a system of monitors, modules, and drives more complex than Bella has ever seen—yet the technology looks so dated. She guesses that a bunch of cyber-terrorists have to make do with what they can find.

"Time is always against us." Carlisle points to a chair to amongst the cables.

Bella sits down nervously, trying to make sense of the terminals and the wires. To her left, Edward is working. "You did all this?"

"Uh huh."

Her attention is pulled away from Edward's skilled hands by Carlisle. "The pill you took is part of a tracing program. It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signals so we can pinpoint your location."

"What does that mean?"

The unknown Cullen looks up. His hair is pulled back in a dirty blond ponytail and he somehow looks less styled and more feral than the others.

"It means 'Buckle your seat belt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye'."

Still confused, Bella allows the others to work around her. She sees an old, cracked mirror to her right. As she looks at it, the cracks seal themselves and the mirror is whole again.

"Did you…"

No one answers her unfinished question, and investigating, she reaches out with her fingertips. They pass through the surface where the glass should be and it ripples like water. What was in that pill?

"Have you ever had a dream, Bella, that you were so sure was real?" Carlisle watches what she is doing.

Lightning strikes in the sky outside as Bella pulls her fingers away from the liquid mirror, too distracted to respond.

"What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

Bella looks down at her hand—a residue of mirror water is on her fingers and it begins to flow up her arm. The sensation is cold. "This can't…"

"Be what? Be real?"

The mirror water reaches her shoulder, and Bella wonders what is going to happen, and how she is going to stop it.

"She's going into replication." Edward looks at Carlisle concerned.

"Alice?"

Alice stares at her monitor. "Still nothing…"

"It's cold…it's cold," Bella gasps as the mirror water moves up her neck.

Carlisle pulls out a cell phone and dials. The recipient picks up almost immediately. "Jasper, we're going to need a signal soon."

Edward looks at his screen as he monitors Bella's signals. An alarm buzzes. "We've got a fibrillation."

For the first time, Carlisle seems flustered. "Alice, location!"

"Targeting—almost there…"

The liquid moves across Bella's cheekbone—she can see it shimmering out of the corner of her eye.

"She's going into arrest." Edward's voice is clear, but there is a definite note of panic.

"Lock! I've got her," Alice squeals in victory.

"Now, Jasper! Now!" Carlisle's voice is desperate as he speaks into his cell.

The mirror water flows down Bella's throat as she tries to form a scream. There is a sound like an old computer loading as she is swallowed by complete darkness.


	4. Chapter 4 Down the Rabbit Hole

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Wow, I'm having more fun that I thought I would have writing this. I can see this taking on a life of its own! Thank you, everyone, for stopping by to read my little unbeta'd flight of fancy.

~x~

There is an electrical buzzing in Bella's ears, and she suddenly feels like she's submerged in a warm bath.

But something isn't quite right—the water feels too…thick. Opening her eyes, pain shoots through her skull, and she gags—there is a tube in her throat. For a moment, Bella imagines she's in hospital and wonders what that pill did to her but…

_Why is everything red? Why am I submerged in warm liquid? What are all of these cables?_

Scrambling for the surface, Bella pushes up with feeble limbs that don't seem quite ready to act on her behalf. Trying to sit up, her fingers break through a sticky, rubbery skin, and she immediately wishes that she'd stayed put.

Freezing air—air that makes Forks feel like Arizona in mid-summer—stabs her all over her exposed skin, which feels wet from the red gel she appears to be covered in. The pain from the cold temperature makes her want to take a deep intake of breath, but the mask over her mouth and nose prevents her. Taking hold of it with two weak hands, she pulls it away.

It's further down her throat than she can imagine, and the sensation as she removes it is sickening, but at least she can breathe—or at least, she can try to. The icy air now bites from the inside, too.

As Bella struggles to open her lungs, it's then that she notices the many black tubes entering her body. Feeling as if she's spent the last seventeen years sleeping curled up in a ball, she tries to move her stiff muscles enough to look about her.

Tentatively, as she feels aware of another larger cable behind her, she reaches her hands up to where her hair should be. Instead, she finds nothing but skin, more gel, and a huge plastic and metal connection plugged into the base of her skull.

Bella wonders why she was so stupid to take pills given to her by strangers, and whether this is what is known as a "bad trip"?

A flash of white light catches her attention and she looks to her left.

Next to her is a long red pod, and inside it is a human body, naked and floating in red gel amongst black cables. Next to the pod is another…and another…and another…

Shocked out of her disbelief by another buzz and a flash of electricity, Bella dares to peer over the side of her capsule and look down.

There are endless rows of many capsules as far as her eyes can see above and below. Across the way, Bella sees many other columns of pods—all flashing and buzzing.

Her nightmare gets worse when there is a hum, which precedes the arrival of an insect-like flying machine. Robot arms unfold in a fluid moment and a blue light focuses in her direction, burning a hole into her brain with its brightness. She hears the sounds of a computer processing.

Trying to get away, Bella finds it difficult to stay afloat in her gel pod, and a robot arm with a vicious gripping claw grabs her by the neck. She struggles, to no effect.

A camera zooms in on her face, and then it feels as if the insect machine is drilling into her skull. Bella's body twitches in agony and she wonders whether she is dreaming, dying, or already dead.

There is a sensation of metal being removed from the base of her brain, and the machine discards her and leaves. Before Bella has time to understand what has just happened, the remaining cables burst from her body in pairs and then there is a suction from behind. As she is pulled backwards, she struggles to find a grip, but her hands don't respond to her wishes. Her slide is eased along by the gel, which flows through a black tube which takes forever to fall down.

When Carlisle mentioned tumbling down the rabbit hole, Bella had imagined tea parties with crazy hatters and grinning pussy cats—not this.

Finally, the almost vertical drop feels shallower, and then Bella gets another blast of cold air before plunging into foul, freezing water with a cry. Despite swimming being the only coordinated act that Bella had ever mastered, the weakness of her limbs fails her and she cannot keep her head above water.

She is aware of a white light on the water and looks upwards. Three beams circle in the blackness above, before a white door opens and a wince descends.

_Is this heaven? Am I being saved?_ Bella wonders, but begins to feel the water flow into her lungs.

She cannot even consider struggling as the metal arms closes her around her, pulling her back up into the biting air. All Bella knows is that she wants this bad dream to end, and to roll over and wake up in her warm bed.

The winch opens and her body hits a metal floor. A number of humans approach—slowly she recognizes them...Edward, Alice, Carlisle. Someone wraps a rough blanket around her, and Bella looks up into the blurred face of the person nearest. Carlisle Cullen.

"Welcome to the real world."

Bella loses consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5 The Desert of the Real

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Thanks for reading along, guys. I really appreciate it. Hope you're enjoying the ride as much as I am.

~x~

For a while, Bella can't tell whether she's dreaming or approaching consciousness. Above where she lies, she can hear voices.

"We've done it, Edward. We've found her." The voice sounds like Carlisle—British-accented and calm.

"I hope you're right."

"I don't have to hope—I know it."

Then, for Bella, everything goes dark and silent once more.

~X~

Waking again, this time she can make out blurred figures. Their voices give them away as Alice and Rosalie.

"Am I dead?" Bella croaks—it seems to take all she's got just to force the words out.

Alice comes closer. "Far from it."

~X~

Bella opens her eyes; feeling a strange sensation of pins and needles, she looks down at her own body. She's undressed, lying on a table…and the prickling is really hundreds of needles protruding from her body.

Panicking, Bella sees Carlisle by her side, and a tall, bulky man standing nearby. When the large guy speaks, his voice is deep and booming.

"She still needs a lot of work."

"What are you doing?" Bella tries to move but her body seems unable to respond. Are the needles doing this to her? What kind of trip is this?

Carlisle smiles. "Your muscles have atrophied. We're rebuilding them."

The light that shines down on Bella is bright and harsh, and she struggles to keep her eyes open for very long. _What is happening to me?_ she thinks to herself.

"Why do my eyes hurt?"

Giving her a sympathetic look, Carlisle replies, "You've never used them before."

Struggling to comprehend what he means, Bella's brow furrows.

"Rest, Bella. The answers are coming."

Bella's conscious thoughts quickly disappear.

~X~

It's cold. Bella tries to reach for her duvet, but doesn't find it.

Finally able to move, Bella sits up and looks around her. Is she still dreaming?

Now it looks like she's in a cell in a dilapidated submarine. The icy temperature bites at her skin, and scared to look down and find herself naked again, she is half relieved to see that she's dressed in a moth-eaten, baggy blue jumper and slim-fitting pants made of an unknown fabric.

Feeling a pull, she looks down at her arm and finds an IV. Rolling up her sleeve, she decides to remove it, giving the device a gentle tug; it's deeper than Bella initially thought. When the IV is fully removed, she is stunned to see its actual length.

Then she thinks about the strange metal plug still embedded in her skin. It takes her back to the bad dream about lying in the cloudy red pod. Tentatively, she reaches around the back of her head. Thankfully, the thick cable is gone, but instead Bella finds another metal circle—much bigger than the one on her arm. Her long, thick locks are gone, and Bella finds only the slightest dusting of short hair.

Her head whirls as she wonders whether this means that it was all true, her heart pounding.

The door opens suddenly. Alice walks in wearing a too-big navy sweater and pants similar to her own. Her outfit certainly fits with the post-apocalyptic nuclear sub theme.

"Alice, what's happened to me?" Bella's voice is panicked.

"More important than 'what' is 'when?'"

Another cryptic question. Bella wonders if everyone in this dream world speaks in riddles, and she makes a mental note to eat less Pop Tarts late at night.

"When?"

"You believe that it's the year nineteen-ninety-nine, when in fact it's closer to twenty-one-ninety-nine," Alice looks entirely serious. "I can't tell you exactly what year it is because we honestly don't know. There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you, Bella. Come with me—see for yourself."

Bella gets to her feet—she doesn't know why, but her joints and muscle ache even more than that time she was forced to play dodge ball in gym. She falls into line behind Alice, walking stiffly.

"This is our ship, the Nebuchadnezzar." She gestures around herself as she speaks. "It's a hovercraft. This is the main deck."

The tour continues. Bella wonders why a bunch of cyber terrorists choose to live in an old submarine. The place is littered with wires and old industrial-looking equipment. In the end, she comes to the conclusion that this is all still down to too much sugar before bedtime.

She passes a number of people at work. One of them raises his welding visor but gives no other sign of greeting—it's Edward, only his eyes aren't golden, they're green.

"This is the core, where we broadcast our pirate signal and hack into the Matrix."

At the end of the tour, Alice finally leads Bella into a room with a number of computer terminals. There are many people congregated there, waiting. Some of the faces are familiar, but they seem to have swapped their dark designer clothing for rags, similar to what Bella is wearing herself.

"Most of the crew you already know."

Edward nods his head and gives a lopsided smile.

"Our captain, Carlisle...Rosalie...and James."

"Hi." James smiles.

"The ones you don't know are Jasper—" Bella doesn't miss the wink Alice gives him. "—And his big brother, Emmett. The little one behind you is Bree."

Bella turns around to see a tiny, timid looking girl, who waves back shyly. Her eyes are brown.

Under pressure from the expectancy emanating from the crew, she looks around the gathering. She notices that everyone that she has met previously's eyes have changed—they're now regular shades of blue, brown, grey, and green, instead of the yellow that they were the first time. Their skin is less pale and they all seem a little less perfect.

Carlisle catches her attention. "You wanted to know what the Matrix is, Bella?"

Bella nods and then Carlisle signals to Edward. Edward approaches Bella and helps her into what looks like an old dentists chair, strapping her feet in and leaning her head against the head rest.

Carlisle looks concerned. "Try to relax. This will feel a little weird."

Bella is aware of something invading the back of her head. There is a sound of metal grating against metal, and a sensation that can only be described as penetration of the brain. She screams, yet it fades into computer distortion.

Bella is a place of total whiteness. She can feel hair falling around her shoulders, and a quick look downwards shows her that she's wearing tight jeans, a green t-shirt, and a brown jacket.

Spinning around, Bella tries to find a door—or even a wall—but there's nothing. It's no longer cold but she can't detect any particular temperature, sound, or smell.

Turning again, Bella is startled to see Carlisle in front of her.

"This is the construct. It's our loading program." He is wearing the long, dark coat that he wore when he offered her the red pill and his eyes are yellow again. His skin is white and smooth as porcelain. "We can load anything from clothing, to equipment, weapons, training simulations—anything we need."

Okay, so the dream has changed again. Any moment now, Bella wonders if she's going to see a caterpillar on a butterfly smoking a hookah.

"Right now, we're inside a computer program?"

"Is it really so hard to believe? Your clothes are different. The plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair has changed."

Bella feels for the port at the back of head, and instead of finding metal, she finds only the hair she would have once expected.

"Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self."

Two chairs, similar to the ones she once sat in with Carlisle in the old hotel, appear slightly to his left side. They weren't there a moment ago, yet here they are.

Bella reaches out and touches one. She can smell the musty leather and feel the roughness under her hands. _So let's get this straight—I'm in a computer program and none of this actually exists?_ she thinks.

"This…this isn't real?"

Carlisle stares at her. "What is real? How do you define real?" Bella thinks about his questions for a moment. "If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."

There is now an old style TV set between the two chairs. Both Bella and Carlisle sit, as Carlisle picks up the control and turns the set on.

"This is the world that you know." The screen shows scenes familiar to Bella—buildings, people working, and generally going about their everyday business. "The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix."

Carlisle pauses and looks at Bella intently.

"You've been living in a dream world, Bella. _This_ is the world as it exists today."

He changes the channel. Suddenly, Bella finds herself within the flickering pictures. The temperature drops to extreme cold, the wind buffets her, and above there are black and grey rolling clouds. It's dark, and the scene is one of utter devastation and desolation.

"Welcome to the desert of the real." Carlisle holds out his arms and seems to find it amusing. "We have only bits and pieces of information, but what we know for certain is that at some point in the twenty-first century, all of mankind was united in celebration—we marvelled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI."

Confused and disorientated, Bella asks, "AI—you mean artificial intelligence?"

"A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. We don't know who struck first—us or them—but we know that it was us that scorched the sky." Carlisle points upwards. "At the time they were dependant on solar power, and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun."

Carlisle continues. "Throughout human history we have been dependant on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."

Bella is stunned as she listens. Surely this can't be true? Right now, Bella is sleeping and having the worst nightmare of her life—that has to be what is happening.

"The human generates more bio-electricity than a hundred-twenty volt battery, and over twenty-five-thousand BTVs of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion, the machines have found all the energy they would ever need.

"There are fields, endless fields, where human beings are no longer born—we are grown.

"For the longest time, I wouldn't believe it." Carlisle's words echo Bella's thoughts. "And then I saw the fields with my own eyes—watched them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure, horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth.

"What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world, built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this."

Carlisle holds up a battery. They are both back in the white nothingness—the construct, as Carlisle calls it.

Bella considers what he has said. She wants to dismiss it all as the ramblings of a drug addled mind in the middle of a very bad dream, but how Carlisle described the energy fields sounds a little too familiar.

Well, of course it would be familiar—it was all part of the dream. This is an elaborate creation straight from her imagination, right?

"No…I don't believe it. It's not possible." Bella shakes her head and bites her lip.

"I didn't say it would be easy, Bella. I just said it would be the truth."

Bella remembers the two pills and the choice Carlisle gave her. She'd asked for the truth—was this what he was giving her now?

Back in…the real world?...Carlisle, Edward, Alice, and the others had seemed unearthly beautiful—too good to be true. Here, in her dream, they are imperfect, more real. Then she recalls their yellow eyes, and the way they'd been regular colours back on the cold, harsh Nebuchadnezzar.

Unless Bella had been dreaming since she fell at sleep at her computer what felt like a lifetime ago, it seemed that what she thought was a dream was turning out to be reality, and reality was becoming the dream.

There was no way that the pod, the machine, the ports, and the nuclear sub existed when her whole life hadn't. Bella refuses to entertain the idea.

"No! Stop. Let me out. I want out!" she flails around, trying to find an exit, but there's only endless white.

Then her eyes open and she struggles in the dentist's chair, trying to remove the cable that she knows is still attached to her brain. Alice tries to calm her.

"Easy, Bella. Easy."

"Take this thing off me! Take this thing—"

Edward comes over as the cable is taken out, and her fastenings are loosened. "Listen to me…"

"Don't touch me. Stay away from me. I don't want it—I don't believe it."

Bella finally climbs out of the chair. James rolls his eyes at her as she backs away, dizzy, and then drops onto weak knees to the floor.

"She's gonna pop."

Edward looks on concerned. "Breathe, Bella. Just breathe…"

Bella empties the burning contents of her stomach onto the metal floor and passes out.


	6. Chapter 6 Everybody Falls the First Time

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Thanks for reading and reviewing—I really appreciate it, guys.

~x~

When Bella opens her eyes, the nightmare is still there. She's back in her cabin and Carlisle is seated next to her.

Bella rises to a sitting position. Staring at the blond captain, she now fully realises the consequences of the choice he offered her.

"I can't go back, can I?"

His blue eyes are sympathetic. "No, but if you could, would you really want to?"

Bella stares back. She's not entirely sure what her answer would be.

"I feel I owe you an apology. We have a rule—we never free a mind once it reaches a certain age. It's dangerous and the mind has trouble letting go. I've seen it before, and I'm sorry. I did what I did because...I had to."

Bella listens to Carlisle, and he continues.

"When the Matrix was first built, there was a girl born inside who had the ability to change whatever she wanted—to remake the Matrix as she saw fit. It was her who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After she died, the Oracle prophesized her return, and that her coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war...bring freedom to our people."

Carlisle's full attention is on Bella.

"That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix, looking for her. I did what I did because I believe that search is over."

He gets to his feet while Bella digests what he has just said. Is he trying to say that she, Bella Swan, is the girl he's looking for?

"Get some rest. You're going to need it."

"For what?" Bella starts to panic.

Pausing at the metal door, Carlisle looks back. "Your training."

Once he's gone, Bella lies down and thinks hard until her weak body fails her and her eyelids close.

~X~

Waking up in the same old cell, Bella mourns the loss of her life in the Matrix, and contemplates what is going to happen next in this strange, new world. The door opens and a tall, curly-haired blond who she remembers from yesterday's tour, steps inside.

He smiles widely. "Mornin'! Did you sleep?"

Bella shakes her head. "Not much."

"You will tonight, I guarantee it. I'm Jasper—I'll be your operator."

His cheerful disposition and warm accent comes as a surprise. Bella takes in Jasper's appearance; the first thing that she notices is that he doesn't have the same black metal ports on his exposed forearms.

"You don't...you don't have any..."

"Holes?" He's amused by the question. "Nope. Me and my brother, Emmett, we're both one hundred percent pure old-fashioned, home-grown human. Born free right here in the real world. Genuine child of Zion."

"Zion?"

"If the war was over tomorrow, Zion's where the party would be."

Bella forgets about her longings for "home" as Jasper piques her interest. "It's a city?"

"The last human city. The only place we have left."

"Where is it?"

There is a fondness in Jasper's voice as he talks. "Deep underground near the Earth's core, where it's still warm. You live long enough, you might even see it." He smiles again. "Goddamn, I gotta tell you—I'm fairly excited to see what you're capable of, if Carlisle is right and all. We're not supposed to talk about this, but if you are...damn, it's a very exciting time." Jasper's enthusiasm is obvious. "We got a lot to do—let's get to it."

He leads Bella through the maze of metal-walled corridors, strewn with wires and ancient-looking technology, back to the core where she passed out previously as she recognized the harsh truth. Jasper straps Bella into the same chair, and then seats himself on an old typists chair in front of a monitor.

"Now, we're supposed to start with these operation programs—that's major boring _shit_. Let's do something a little more fun...wanna be a vampire?"

Jasper grins as he flicks through a pile of disks, selecting one and then loading it into his computer.

Bella looks at the picture on the screen—a crude pixelated image of a man in a long dark coat and sunglasses. Above the image, the word confirms that she did just hear Jasper correctly.

"Vampire? I'm going to be a...vampire?"

"How else do you think we're able to do all the things we can in the Matrix? Changing your program in virtual reality makes you stronger, faster, able to do things a regular human can't."

He hits "load".

Bella's eyes close, and her body jerks violently against her fastenings. The bio-monitor reacts wildly, showing adrenaline surges and extreme brain activity. Seconds later, her eyes open wide.

"Holy shit!"

Jasper chuckles. "Hey, Mikey, I think she likes it. How about some more? Combat training?"

Preparing herself, Bella grips onto the armrests of the chair. "Hell, yeah. Oh, yeah."

A long time later, Alice walks in. Bella is still hungry for more, loading yet another program, but Jasper is blinking and having difficulty focusing his tired eyes on the screen.

Alice winds her arms around Jasper's shoulders as she joins him. "How is she?"

"Ten hours straight. She's a machine!"

The program finishes loading and Bella comes back to reality. She is breathing hard and looks exhilarated.

"I know Kung Fu."

"Show me." Alice skips over to another chair.

~X~

Bella and Alice materialize in a Japanese-style dojo. Alice is wearing a martial arts outfit in black with white trim, and Bella finds herself wearing the opposite colours. Alice's eyes are amber and Bella has hair once more, though it is tied up in a messy knot.

"This is a sparring program, similar to the programmed reality of the Matrix. It has the same basic rules—rules like gravity." Bella looks around the room while Alice speaks confidently. "What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent. Others can be broken. Understand?"

Bella nods her head.

"Then hit me...if you can."

Bella assumes an angular, dramatic fighting pose; Alice's is more sweeping and poised. They face each other across the room before Bella makes the first move. Bella's fists fly at inhuman speeds, but Alice is there to block every one with only half of the effort Bella is exerting. Bella grunts as she tries her best to hit her pixie-like opponent.

Alice breaks away and strikes another pose, Bella doing the same, though in a much more casual, less structured style. With a beckoning gesture, Alice invites her student to try again.

Leaping into the air, Bella tries to land a kick, but is blocked by a retreating Alice. As Bella performs a roundhouse kick, Alice ducks out of the way. She avoids Bella's blows, and then calmly extends an arm and grabs one of Bella's feet; with lightning speed, she sends her spinning to the floor.

"Good. Adaptation...improvisation...but your weakness is not your technique." Alice chats while Bella gets back on her feet. Bella doesn't wait for her to finish speaking before trying again, and they exchange blows at a more frenetic pace.

~X~

Back in reality on the Nebuchadnezzar, Bree sprints into the mess hall.

"Alice is fighting Bella."

Edward, sitting nearest the door, is the first to pass through it, closely followed by Emmett, Rosalie, who scrambles over the table, and then Carlisle and James.

~X~

Back in the virtual dojo, Alice and Bella are evenly matched as they hit and block. A high kick almost reaches its target, until Alice dances out of the way, placing a strong foot and then sending Bella hurtling across the room.

Gracefully, Bella gets back to her feet. Her legs and arms are getting closer with every attempt, her movements more measured and controlled, but Alice is always one step ahead.

Sliding across the flooring, Bella rolls onto her back to see a small, dark ball flying impossibly high through the air; she rolls out of the way before Alice's knee strikes the wood, turning it into splinters. Flipping like a gymnast to the opposite side of the room, Bella doesn't waste a second. Their motions are so tightly choreographed that it looks like they're dancing, until Alice pushes Bella away violently.

~X~

On the Nebuchadnezzar, Bella's body jerks at the impact, and Edward looks on concerned. James notices and gives a smirk—Edward's reactions are possibly even more amusing than the fight he's watching on screen.

~X~

Both virtual fighters perform another pose, but this time Alice comes at Bella. Bella flips her, but Alice lands on her feet like a cat and uses the moment to turn the tables on her pupil, who drops with much less grace. Avoiding a sweeping leg underneath her, Bella jumps up, runs across the room, up a vertical wooden beam, and flips through the air to the opposite side of Alice.

Calmly, Alice waits until Bella has landed, and then a single tiny foot to the chest sends Bella crashing into a pillar, breaking it in half. Bella gasps, face down on the floor as Alice casually walks over to her.

"How did I beat you?"

Bella pants as she gets to her knees. "You...you're too fast."

"Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place?"

Confused, Bella continues to force oxygen into her lungs, while Alice bends down to her level.

"You think that's air you're breathing now?"

Bella's yellow eyes snap up, and Alice's eyebrows rise in amusement. Experimentally, Bella holds her breath.

"Hmm." Alice smirks and then straightens up.

Still not breathing, Bella is stunned to find that the action she'd been carrying out subconsciously does not cause any harmful effect when she stops.

"Again." Alice faces the opposite side of the room, pleased at Bella's progress.

~X~

Bree is staring at the screen. "Jesus Christ, she's fast! Take a look at her neural kinetics—they're way above normal." Jasper has to tap Bree's fingers away from the screen.

The rest of the crew are gathered behind. James continues to look smug by Edward's side; Edward is too intent on the screen to notice.

~X~

This time, Bella and Alice hold their poses in perfect stillness before Alice attacks again. Alice holds back a fist aimed perfectly at Bella's face before it makes contact, and Bella takes a step back.

"What are you waiting for? You're faster than this." Alice encourages Bella. "Don't think you are, _know _you are." Alice beckons Bella again.

They fight again, this time Alice manages to tangle Bella in the movement of her own arms.

"Come on! Stop trying to hit me and _hit me_."

Bella tries again, but this time, the movement of her fists is faster than even Alice can believe, and Bella arms are a blur. A fist misses Alice's face by a hairbreadth, and she has to duck out of the way clumsily to avoid it.

~X~

Bree is still closest to the screen, moving her own hands slightly as she is enthralled by the battle unfolding. Then she pauses.

"I don't believe it."

~X~

Bella pins Alice against the wall, a fist an inch away from her teacher's face.

Pulling it away, Bella says, "I know what you're trying to do."

"I'm trying to free your mind, Bella, but I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." Alice knows Jasper is watching. "Jasper, load the jump program."

~X~

The crew watch nervously—Bree chews her fingernails, James looks away deep in thought, Emmett and Rosalie glance at one another, and Edward gives the screen his full attention as Jasper hits "load".

~X~

At first, Bella and Alice are back in the construct. Alice is in the same latex outfit her enhanced residual self image mostly wears. Bella is surprised to find that her outfit has changed to skin-tight black jeans with knee high boots, and a black vest top under a black jacket.

Underneath them, city rooftops fly up from the ground until Bella finds herself standing on top of a multi-storey building. For a moment she is dizzy and disorientated.

"You have to let it all go, Bella." Alice says in a reassuring voice. "Fear, doubt, and disbelief..._free_ _your mind."_

Turning abruptly, Alice takes three steps, leaps into the air, and lands on another rooftop, the distance of which looks to Bella to be the same length as Forks High's football pitch. Once she lands, she turns and smiles at Bella.

"Woah."

Bella walks to the edge and looks over—it's a long way down.

"Okey dokey. Free my mind."

She backs up, trying to focus on her target on the other side.

~X~

Though the fight is over, the crew are still absorbed by what is happening.

"So what if she makes it?" Bree asks nervously.

Jasper keeps a close eye on the equipment. "No one's ever made the first jump."

"I know...but what if she does?"

"She won't." Rosalie replies bluntly.

Edward whispers under his breath. "Come on."

~X~

Rubbing her hands together, Bella takes a deep breath.

"All right. No problem. Free my mind. Free my mind." The words are like a mantra to her.

And then she hurtles forward, putting everything she's got into the movement of her legs. The final planting of her foot hits the ledge and she propels herself upwards...and then her body starts curving downwards.

Arms and legs flailing, she yells and watches the ground flying towards her, landing face first on the asphalt of the road beneath. The outline of a body gives way beneath her, and the impact she was preparing herself for doesn't happen. She bounces, and the second impact is much harsher—the ground now has the texture that she would have expected the first time.

Bella groans in agony.

~X~

The crowd around the screen stare with varying expressions of disappointment or disdain. Edward flinches at the impact and looks down.

Bree shakes her head. "What does this mean?" She is genuinely confused—isn't Bella meant to be The One? Emmett slaps her on the back and then walks away.

With a snort, Rosalie replies, "It doesn't mean anything."

James, unimpressed, adds, "Everybody falls the first time. Right, Edward?" As he turns to gloat, he finds that Edward has already left.

Jasper eases the plug from the port in the back of Bella's head and her eyes flicker open. When she moves to sit up, she gasps and brings her arms to her sore rib cage. Her body feels battered and bruised; bringing two fingers up to her mouth, they come away bloody.

Bella's eyes meet Alice's, who holds herself stiffly as Carlisle disconnects her from the apparatus.

"I thought it wasn't real?"

"Your mind makes it real," Carlisle explains.

Considering the implications, Bella asks, "If you're killed in the Matrix, you die here?"

Carlisle answers, "The body cannot live without the mind."

Stunned, Bella suddenly longs for the bed in her cold, metal cabin.


	7. Chapter 7 The Woman in the Red Dress

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

I enjoyed writing last night's chapter so much, I thought I'd do another one. Thanks for the ongoing support, guys.

~x~

While Bella is sleeping, Edward goes into her room and puts a tray on the floor—her breakfast.

Watching her, he kneels close and pulls the blanket over Bella's inert form, pausing for a while with his face close to hers. Edward takes a deep breath, and then pulls himself away, getting to his feet and closing the door behind him quietly.

James is waiting there on the other side, arms folded and smirking.

"I don't remember you ever bringing me dinner."

Edward glares but doesn't respond.

"There is something about her, isn't there?" James's voice is uncharacteristically soft as he speaks; he stares at the door to Bella's quarters.

"Don't tell me you're a believer now." Edward replies in a sarcastic tone.

"I just keep wondering…" James looks thoughtful. "If Carlisle and Alice are so sure, why don't they take her to see the Oracle?"

They look at each other. After Rosalie, they are definitely the more cynical members of the crew.

"Carlisle will take her when she's ready." Edward turns on his heel and walks away. James smiles as he watches him go—he knows how to spot the signs of a man in love.

~x~

In yet another training program, Bella and Edward wait at a crossing at a busy intersection. When the "walk" sign appears, Bella follows her tutor for today across the road into a crowd of people.

In his long black coat, Edward walks through them effortlessly, but Bella finds herself pushed and bumped aside.

"The Matrix is a system, Bella. That system is our enemy, but when you're inside, you look around, and what do you see?" Bella struggles to stay close enough to concentrate on what Edward is saying. "Business people, teachers, lawyers, carpenters—the very minds of the people we are trying to save. Until we do, these people are still a part of that system…and that makes them our enemy."

Bella stares at a police man writing a ticket for a car parked by the side of the road. He turns his head and looks at her from behind his mirrored shades.

"You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. Many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it." Edward strides ahead, occasionally looking over his shoulder to make sure that Bella is keeping pace.

As he speaks, Bella looks forward. Amongst the crowd of black and white business suits, she spots a beautiful strawberry blonde wearing a bright red dress sashaying her way toward them. As she passes, she winks at Edward, and Bella can't help but scowl and watch her walk away.

Edward stops and turns around. "Were you listening to me, Bella? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"

Bella looks back to Edward. "I was…"

"Look again." Edward's voice is stern.

Bella spins her body around, and then ducks to see that the woman in the red dress has turned into a muscular man, Agent Demetri, dressed in a dark green suit and shades. He is pointing a gun at Bella's face.

"Freeze it."

Time freezes and Bella looks around. "This…this isn't the Matrix?"

"No. It's another program—designed to teach you one thing. If you are not one of us, you are one of them."

Bella inspects the frozen agent and Edward joins her. The agent looks like he belongs with the Secret Service or the FBI—Bella can he's wearing an ear piece. He looks dangerous.

"What are they?"

"Sentient programs," Edward explains. "They can move in and out of any software still hard-wired to their system. That means anyone we haven't unplugged is potentially an agent. Inside the Matrix, they are everyone and they are no one."

Bella chews her lip and listens to her teacher.

"We have survived by hiding from them and by running from them, but they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys—which means that, sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them."

"Someone?"

Edward looks down at Bella with a serious expression. "I won't lie to you, Bella. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an agent, has died. Carlisle believes that where they have failed, you will succeed."

Confused at why everyone—Carlisle and Alice particularly—seems so convinced that she is something special, Bella asks, "Why?"

"I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based on a world built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you could be."

"What are you trying to tell me?" Bella asks and then frowns. "That I can dodge bullets?"

"No, Bella. I'm trying to tell you that if you are The One, you won't have to."

Before Bella can ask more questions, Edward's cell rings. He flips it open and answers.

"Yes?"

Jasper speaks down the receiver. "We've got trouble."

~X~

Edward and Bella exit the program, and back on the Nebuchadnezzar, they head to the main deck. Emmett is sitting at the controls, with Alice co-piloting.

"Did Zion send a warning?"

"No, another ship," Emmett replies in his deep voice.

They exit a tunnel, and Bella looks around at a huge area of empty space as the Neb hovers through the air, casting a blue light all around. There are signs that this place is manmade, but it looks like there was a huge collapse here a long time ago.

As the vehicle descends, the rest of the crew joins Jasper in the core.

"Shit. Squiddies sweeping in quick." Emmett seems hurried.

"Squiddy?" Bella asks Edward.

"A sentinel—a killing machine designed for one thing—"

"Search and destroy." Emmett finishes Edward's sentence for him.

"Set her down right over there." Alice orders—Bella often forgets that she is second-in-command. Picking up the mic to the ship's radio, Alice asks, "How are we doing, Jasper?"

Emmett guides the vehicle into a dark tunnel and sets it down. There is a loud noise and the Neb shudders, before Jasper douses the lights and plunges everything into blackness.

Jasper is back in the core, working between a number of screens and shutting down systems. "Power offline—EMP armed and ready."

"EMP?"

Alice answers Bella's question with an almost whisper. "Electromagnetic pulse. Disables any electrical system within the blast radius. It's the only weapon we have against the machines."

Everywhere is dark and silent; the only light is the red glow coming from a single red button. Alice flicks open the clear plastic cover and holds her finger ready a few inches above it.

"Where are we?" Bella asks quietly.

"They are old service and waste systems." Edward replies under his breath.

"Sewers?"

"There used to be cities that spanned for hundreds of miles. Now these sewers are all that's left."

"Quiet!" Alice commands.

Bella looks out of the window once her eyes adjust to the blackness, waiting expectantly.

There is a movement as something floats through the air gracefully; with long tendrils behind it, it looks almost like a jellyfish. As Bella observes, she jumps a little when another of the mechanical creatures appears at the entrance of the tunnel they're hiding inside.

Everyone holds their breath.

The creature halts, and Bella can see a number of red lights that look like eyes. Its tendrils sweep up and Bella watches as a number of devices activate on the end of each one. The claw poised ready to strike takes Bella's mind back to the moment in the pod after she woke up.

There is a hum as the Squiddy does a sensor sweep. It pauses for a while, and then draws its sensor equipment back and floats away.

There is a collective exhale and everyone relaxes back in their chairs.


	8. Chapter 8 Ignorance is Bliss

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Thank you so much to everyone who is taking time out to read this story. Just to let you know that, as this is a stress-free unbeta'd fic, I've already decided that The Twilatrix Reloaded is definitely happening. In fact, I've already casted it.

~x~

Unable to sleep, Bella gets up and wanders the strange corridors of the Neb. As everywhere is quiet, she assumes that it must be night.

When she sees lights coming from the core, she decides to seek out company.

James is working at the now familiar screens, which show the strings of green characters on black which Bella knows is the code of the Matrix. Like a moth, Bella heads towards the only source of light in the room.

As she draws near, James jumps in his seat.

"Woah, Bella! You scared the bejeezus out of me." He switches off most of the monitors, and takes a deep intake of breath. Bella can see that she really did startle him.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

James is one of the few crew members who hasn't taken her for a training session so far, and as such, Bella doesn't feel like she's really gotten to know who he is as yet. Maybe something good might come out of being sleepless tonight?

Bella motions toward the screen. "Is that..."

"The Matrix? Yeah."

For a second they both look at the strings of characters.

"Do you always look at it encoded?" Bella asks as she tries to make sense of what she is seeing.

"Well, you have to," James explains. "The image translators work for the construct program, but there's way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I don't even see the code." He points out a few strings. "All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head…"

Bella tries to recognize the characters, but with no luck. James breaks her concentration as he looks over his shoulder shiftily, and then speaks.

"Hey—you…uh…you want a drink?"

The minute the question passes James's lips, Bella realizes just how badly she needs something to help anaesthetize her mind. She nods eagerly.

"Sure."

James grabs a metal cup and pours liquid out of a container that looks more like a metal bucket than a jug. As he hands it over, James gives Bella a sympathetic look.

"You know, I know what you're thinking, because right now I'm thinking the same thing." He sighs deeply. "Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here. Why, oh why, didn't I take the _blue_ pill."

Smiling a little with humorless amusement and at the accuracy of James's statement, she watches him take a deep draught from the bucket.

Bella looks down at her cup and takes a sip. Whatever it is that she is drinking, it scalds her insides and tastes a lot like what she'd imagined her bathroom cleaner in the Matrix would have, had she ever taken leave of her senses and tried to ingest it.

As Bella tries to cough the toxic fumes out of her chest, James laughs and the beaten down expression he'd been wearing moments earlier is gone.

"Good shit, huh?" James pats her on the back. "Emmett makes it. It's good for two things—degreasing engines and killing brain cells."

Bella can't reply as she struggles to breathe. Whatever it is, it has certainly done the job as she already feels light headed. She finds herself taking another sip in an attempt to wash the first mouthful down.

As she fights the burn the second time round, she looks inside her mug, dismayed to find that there's at least another gulp left.

"So…can I ask you something? Did he tell you why he did it?"

Not wanting to acknowledge the burden she'd been given, Bella looks down and nods her head slightly.

James whistles. "Jesus. What a mind job." He looks ahead and contemplates something. "So you're here to save the world…what do you say to something like that?"

It feels good to hear someone vocalizing exactly how she feels, but it also confirms her hopelessness that things aren't going to get better, and that the expectations placed on her are impossible.

"A little piece of advice…" Bella looks up and her eyes meet James's. His expression is serious. "You see an agent, you do what we do—_run_. You run your ass off."

Bella opens her throats and quickly tosses back the dregs from her mug, hoping that it will drown the despair growing inside of her.

"Thanks for the drink," she croaks.

With a curl of his mouth, James calls, "Sweet dreams," as she walks away. He sees the same emotions in Bella's eyes as he felt himself when he first arrived here in the real world, and suspects that Bella will be back for a nightcap more often.

The prospect of like-minded company almost makes him reconsider what he's about to do. Almost.

~X~

"Do we have a deal, Mr Reagan?" Agent Jane asks as James cuts through a large piece of perfectly cooked steak inside the Matrix.

James stares at the morsel he skewers on his fork. "You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth the Matrix is telling my brain that it's juicy and delicious." His eyes flick to Jane's as she sits across the table in this recreation of a once famous restaurant that ceased to exist centuries ago.

"After nine years, you know what I realize?" James continues, and then pauses to put the little chunk of heaven into his mouth. He chews and his eyes almost roll back into his head at the pure ecstasy of _real _food. "Ignorance is bliss."

As a harp plays in the background, James savors the moment.

"Then we have a deal?" Agent Jane sits upright in her seat. This meeting—this location and the terms were all put forward by her dining companion. He has already proven his trustworthiness by allowing them to trace the target known as Alice once, though she did manage to escape.

"I don't want to remember nothing. Nothing—you understand?" James picks up his glass of cognac and samples the bouquet. "And I want to be rich, you know—someone important…like an actor."

"Whatever you want, Mr. Reagan." Though the motives of this creature before her do not compute, if he wants to strike a bargain in order to help her achieve her objectives, then she is willing to consider anything within reason. Why anyone would want to return to this hell is beyond her.

"Okay, I get my body back into a power plant. Re-insert me into the Matrix—I'll get you what you want."

"Access codes to the Zion mainframe."

James interrupts Agent Jane. "No, I told you—I don't know them. I can get you someone who does."

"Carlisle or Alice." Either the captain or his second-in-command would suffice, though secretly, Agent Jane hopes that it is the latter—she does not enjoy it when she fails to apprehend a target.

James does not respond, but Agent Jane's knowledge of human body language tells her all that she needs to know.


	9. Chapter 9 Everything the Body Needs

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Thanks again, guys. Sorry there was a bit of a delay between chapters this time—I've been plot bunnied out on other things for a while, but I was always coming back.

~x~

In the mess hall, Jasper operates a nozzle and fills a container, before dropping a bowl of what looks suspiciously like oatmeal mixed with raw eggs on the table. Bella looks at it and wonder if it's really edible.

"Here you go, Bella. Breakfast of champions."

Everyone else around the table is tucking in, but she feels hesitant.

Bree, sitting to Bella's right, sees her staring at her food. "If you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs."

"Yeah—or a bowl of snot." Rosalie's mood hasn't gotten any sweeter since their first meeting, so it seems.

Bella tips her spoon and watches the substance slop back into the container that looks like a large sardine can.

"You know what it really reminds me of? Tasty Wheat. Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?" Bree ignores Rosalie's mood and aims the question at anyone in hearing distance.

Edward sits at the far end of the table, minding his own business and eating hungrily. Rosalie and Emmett ignore the question, and so Jasper answers on everyone's behalf.

"No, but technically, neither did you."

"That's exactly my point." The once shy Bree speaks animatedly and gestures with her spoon. "Exactly—because you have to wonder now…how did the machines really know what Tasty Wheat tasted like, huh? Maybe they got it wrong? Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal or tuna fish? That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken, for example. Maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything? Maybe they couldn't—"

"Shut up, Bree." Rosalie isn't amused by the conversation in the slightest. Bella has to admit that the noise has distracted her enough so that she's not had the opportunity for my spoon to reach her mouth, for which she is grateful, despite the emptiness in her stomach.

Huge, imposing Emmett sees Bella's hesitation. "It's a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs." His voice is as deep and booming as always.

_Heck, if he can get as big as he is eating just this, it can't be that bad, can it?_ Bella thinks to herself. _There again, Emmett has never eaten "real" food in the Matrix, so what would he know? Maybe he was weaned on this stuff?_

She tries it—it's gritty, and tastes exactly like the egg white and oatmeal that she'd originally assumed. Bree, rolling her eyes and shuffling closer, provides a welcome diversion from the tasteless mush in Bella's mouth.

"It doesn't have everything the body needs." Her eyes get a mischievous glint and she lowers her voice. "So…I understand you've run through the agent training program. You know, I wrote that program."

Rosalie rolls her eyes. "Here it comes."

"So what did you think of her?"

Confused, Bella furrows her brow in Bree's direction. "Of who?"

"Tanya—the woman in the red dress!" Bree seems appalled that Bella didn't immediately recognize who she was referring to. "I designed her. She…well, she doesn't talk very much, but if you'd like to meet her or her male counterpart, Laurent, I can arrange a much more personalized milieu."

A smile cracks on Rosalie's face. "Digital pimp hard at work."

"Pay no attention to these hypocrites, Bella." Bella has to admit that Bree's sudden boldness is amusing. "To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human."

Suddenly, the battered looking door to the crowded room opens and Carlisle steps through.

"Emmett, when you're done bring the ship up to broadcast depth." Carlisle's eyes fix themselves on the newest addition to the crew. "We're going in. I'm taking Bella to see her."

Carlisle leaves immediately, and Bella doesn't miss the glances exchanged around the table.

"See who?" she asks.

"The Oracle…" Jasper almost whispers.

~X~

Jasper straddles his chair in front of the now familiar black screens with cascading green code, and rolls his shoulders.

"Everyone please observe—the fasten seat belt and no smoking signs have been turned on," he drawls as he taps on the keyboard to his right, and then reaches across to initiate the loading process. "Sit back and enjoy your ride."

One second, Bella is sat in one of the dentist's chairs in the core; the next, she's stood in a dingy, green room with Edward, Carlisle, Rosalie, Alice, Bree, and James, watching an old fashioned black phone ringing. All are dressed in black, be it latex pants, slacks and shirt, or boots and biker jackets.

As Bella looks around at everyone's yellow eyes, she realizes that this is their residual self image, and that she is now one of them—a digital vampire.

Carlisle walks across the room gracefully and picks up the phone.

"We're in. We'll be back in an hour." He places the phone back on the receiver.

Already accustomed to the construct, Bella takes a moment to hold her breath, just to check that it's also not fatal here in the Matrix.

Alive and not breathing, she follows Alice, Edward, Bree, and James. Carlisle and Rosalie wait by the phone for them to return.

Outside, the old style black car that picked Bella up in the high school parking lot is waiting, and they climb inside.

While no one is looking, James presses dial on his cell and drops it into the trash, then gets in the back. Edward sits between James and Bella.

As they drive through the streets that were once so familiar to Bella, Alice looks in the rear view mirror to judge Bella's reaction.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?"

Bella continues to stare through the glass.

"God!"

She stirs Edward out of his trance and earns his full attention. "What?"

Bella points out of the window at a restaurant. "I used to eat there. Really good noodles." She thinks about it for a moment. That restaurant that she visited so often never existed. "I have these memories from my life—none of them happened. What does that mean?"

"That the Matrix cannot tell you who you are," Edward replies confidently.

"But an Oracle can?"

The side of Edward's mouth lifts a little. "That's different."

Bella regards him for a moment. "Did you go to her?"

"Yes." Edward looks away as he responds.

Bella's curiosity is piqued as he stares ahead. "What did she tell you?"

Edward smiles that lopsided smile again. "She told me…" He trails off, seemingly deciding not to reveal what it was that the Oracle said.

"What?"

There is something about Edward, Bella thinks. Something he's hiding. Sometimes, Bella feels like he's waiting her to pass some kind of test, and she's not sure what. Whatever it is, it seems that she's not achieved it as yet.

Her train of thought is cut off as Alice stops the car.

"We're here. Bella, come with me."


	10. Chapter 10 Know Thyself

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

Halfway there! Oracle cookies to everyone who is still reading along.

**~X~**

Bella follows Alice into a nondescript apartment building, across the foyer, and into an elevator. She doesn't know what she was expecting from a building that houses the all-knowing Oracle, but this dilapidated place wasn't it.

"So, is this the same Oracle that made the prophecy?" Bella asks.

Alice turns and smiles as they ascend. "Yes. She's very old—she's been with us since the beginning."

Confused, Bella's brow furrows. "The beginning?"

"Of the resistance."

"And she knows everything?"

Alice smiles at some fond memory. "She would say she knows enough." It strikes Bella that Alice and the Oracle must know each other well.

"And she's never wrong?"

"Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong." Alice is thoughtful as she replies.

They arrive at their chosen floor and the doors open. Alice continues as they walk down a corridor, its walls dirty and marred with graffiti. "She is a guide, Bella. She can help you to find the path."

"She helped you?" The diminutive superior officer confirms Bella's question. "What did she tell you?"

Alice beams—brighter than the flickering neon lights above. "That I would find the One."

They pause at a door, identical to many others that they have passed on the way. Bella waits for Alice to knock for entry.

"I told you, I can only show you the door," Alice says dramatically. "_You're_ the one who has to walk through it."

Another test? Bella's mind drifts back to the woman in the red dress. Hats off to Bree—she certainly knows how to program a memorable lesson.

Hands reach out for the handle, but before Bella can open the door, an olive skinned woman with dark hair pulls it wide open. Her eyes are amber.

"Hello, Bella. You're right on time."

For a moment, Bella takes in the woman in the doorway's exotic appearance and wonders If she's the Oracle, but then comes to the conclusion that she isn't. The guests are shown inside.

"Make yourself at home, Alice," the woman says. Her tone is warm and familiar, and Bella doesn't doubt that Alice has visited many times. The priestess, if that's what she is, turns to the newest addition to the Nebuchadnezzar's crew. "These are the other potentials. You can wait here."

As she leaves the room to inform the Oracle of Bella's presence, the girl in question looks around. She's stood in a room that reminds her of her gran's home—decorated as if it was still in the nineteen-thirties.

Bella and Alice are the only adults, though Alice's stature allows her to blend in. Children play, meditate, or concentrate—one girl levitates building blocks, and a small dark-haired boy sits cross legged on the floor, holding a spoon. As he looks on impassively, the spoon sways and twists, and Bella finds herself in the reflection on its metallic surface.

The boy notices his audience and his eyes snap up, as does the spoon that earlier seemed to flow like liquid. He holds it out for Bella to take.

Fascinated, she sits down in front of him and takes the remarkable spoon from his hand. Surprisingly, it feels solid.

He begins in his English accent. "Do not try and bend the spoon—that's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth."

As he speaks, Bella notices his angelic but serious face, and his red eyes.

"What truth?"

"There is no spoon." There is a mild hint of humor. He only seems to be around thirteen-years-old, but it's obvious that this child is wiser beyond his tender age.

Turning the item of cutlery over in her hands, Bella repeats his words, trying to understand.

"Then you will see," he explains, "it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

Experimentally, she holds the spoon vertical in her fingers and stares. It isn't really there. All of this—the room, the other children sitting there, Alice standing by the door, the spoon—none of this is real. This is all computer code entering the brain, and if Bella can somehow disrupt the signal, the spoon will do what she wants it to.

The piece of metal drops and curls in Bella's hand, but then a voice behind her makes her jump.

"The Oracle will see you now," the Priestess informs, and Bella places her bent spoon down with the collection of straight ones in front of the red-eyed boy.

Following the Priestess, she steps through a beaded curtain.

No marble, no throne, no statues of deities or burning oil, just an old style kitchen. A woman with caramel hair, styled as if she too was from the nineteen-thirties, faces the opposite way in a corner of the kitchen, sitting on a stool. It seems like something in the oven has her attention.

"I know…you're Bella. Be right with you."

"You're the Oracle?" Bella asks.

"Bingo, but please, call me Esme." She turns around and smiles, the expression warm and motherly. "Not quite what you were expecting, right?" Her attention goes back to the oven. "Almost done."

She reminds Bella of the old black and white photos of gran as a child. For a brief second, she wonders whether gran actually existed—whether she was a real person in a pod somewhere or just a program designed to seem that way. Bella's arms fold across her chest, and she hunches in on herself at the possibility.

"Smell good, don't they?"

Bella forces the corners of her mouth up and says, "Yeah."

"I'd ask you to sit down…" Esme opens the oven and pulls out the tray of cookies. "But you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase." She walks across the kitchen, tray in hand.

"What vase?" As Bella turns to look around, her elbow catches something, and a vase crashes to the floor.

"That vase."

"I'm sorry."Bella says, panicking at the sight of the ceramic shards and bunches of fake flowers on the floor. She is mortified at her clumsiness.

Esme's smile is sympathetic. "I said don't' worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it." The care in her voice as she refers to her kids tells that they mean the world to her. Bella can see why Alice likes the Oracle so much—it's hard not to.

"How did you know?"

Esme takes off her apron and pulls out a cigarette. "Oh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything."

That sounds exactly like something Bella would wonder about, and she is amazed. Or is she only going to think about it because Esme has planted the seed in her mind?

Cigarette in hand, she points it in Bella's direction. The Oracle takes a seat in a creaky chair close by. "You're cuter than I thought. I can see why he likes you."

"Who?" Bella is puzzled.

"Not too bright though."

Bella likes this woman and smiles at her cheeky insult. They share the humor.

"So, what do you think? Do you think you're the One?"

Bella says what's on her mind. "I honestly don't know."

The cigarette points out a wooden plaque above the door, and all eyes follow it.

"You know what that means? It's Latin. Means 'know thyself'."

Bella ponders its meaning, until Esme pulls her focus back.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Being the One is just like being in love. No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it. Through and through. Balls to bones."

Bella looks down awkwardly. She doesn't feel like the one. Other than the lack of need for breathing, the stillness of her digital chest, and the knowledge stemming from taking the red pill, she feels the same as she ever did.

"Well, I'd better have a look at you." The Oracle gets to her feet and walks over, taking a hold of Bella's face with both hands. "Open your mouth—say 'Ahh'."

Bella complies and Esme finishes her inspection. "Okay, now I'm supposed to say, 'Hmm, that's interesting,' but then you say…"

"What?"

"You already know what I'm going to tell you." Esme sits back down and stares Bella in the eyes.

"I'm not the One." Something inside of Bella's chest sinks, hope that she hadn't realized was there. She feels stupid for allowing herself to get caught up in other's misguided beliefs.

"Sorry, kid. You've got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something."

"What?" Bella begs for clarification.

"Your next life, maybe? Who knows? That's the way these things go."

As she thinks back at how easy it was to persuade her that she was the savior of the human race, she laughs. "Carlisle and Alice…they almost had me convinced."

Instead of amusement, Esme's face drops. "Poor Carlisle…poor Alice. Without them, we're lost."

"What do you mean, without them?"

Her eyes look at Bella with concern. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

Her reply is a nod.

"They believe in you, Bella, and no one—not you, not even me—can convince them otherwise. Alice believes it so blindly that she's going to sacrifice her life to save yours."

Struggling to comprehend what she has just heard, all Bella can manage to say is, "What?"

"You're going to have to make a choice." Esme explains. "In one hand you'll have Alice's life, and in the other hand, you'll have your own." She pauses. "One of you is going to die—which one will be up to you."

The idea of such a thing is a shock to her system that Bella has to turn her head away.

"I'm sorry, Bella, I really am. You have a good soul, and I hate giving good people bad news." The Oracle's voice has dropped to almost a whisper.

Bella stands there, saying nothing.

"Oh, don't worry about it. As soon as you step outside that door, you'll start feeling better." Esme's comforting smile returns. "You'll remember you don't believe in any of this fate crap. You're in control of your own life, remember?"

She gets to her feet and holds out a plate of cookies.

"Here, take a cookie. I promise, by the time you're done eating it, you'll feel as right as rain."

Bella takes one, its heat warming her hand. Once she exits the kitchen, she wanders across the living room in a daze.

Alice sees Bella's stunned expression and comes to the wrong conclusion.

"What was said was for you, and you alone."

Bella allows herself to be led, though the Oracle is right—as soon as Bella has eating the cookie, she feels right as rain.


	11. Chapter 11 Déjà Vu

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

I've been looking forward to doing this scene for quite a while, so let's just get right into it! I get the feeling a few scenes might get written tonight. (Thanks everyone for sticking with this little unbeta'd ditty.)

~X~

Jasper is back on the Neb, keeping a close eye on the screens as he readies everything for his crewmates' return.

"They're on their way," he says aloud for Emmett's benefit, but then suddenly there's a flicker and the code changes. "What is that?" He holds his hands up as he tries to make sense of the strings of characters.

Still searching, Jasper finally sees what it is that has changed.

"Oh my God…"

~X~

Making their way up the stairs, heading back to the exit, Bella takes a little time to marvel at her surroundings. The realism, down to the peeling wallpaper on the walls, stuns her. She sees a cat walk past a doorway, giving itself a little shake and then walking away.

Happening to glance back at the doorway, the cat repeats its action.

"Woah—déjà vu."

Everyone turns in Bella's direction.

"What did you just say?" Edward asks—he's the closest to her.

Bella's position at the back of the group, with everyone looking down the stairs at her, makes her feel a conspicuous. She replies a little self-consciously. "Nothing. Just had a little…déjà vu."

"What did you see?" Edward seems concerned, and James hurries down a few steps so the two men are standing side by side.

"What happened?" James is also alarmed. Bella is confused by their sudden state of alert over a cat.

"A black cat went past us." Bella indicates the doorway. "And then another that looked just like it."

Edward's response is swift and snappy. "How much like it? Was it the same cat?"

Shaking her head slightly, Bella looks down for a brief moment. "Might have been—I'm not sure."

Carlisle takes charge of the situation. "Rosalie. Alice." All eyes turn to him; then Rosalie and Alice run up and down the stairs respectively, guns in hand.

As she presses back against the rail to let Alice by, Bella looks up at Edward's serious face and asks, "What is it?"

"A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix." Edward pauses for a second to allow Bella to understand the seriousness of the situation. "It happens when they change something."

Up the stairs, Rosalie arms her gun ready.

~X~

Bree, looking significantly cooler and calmer in the Matrix than she does in the real world, is sitting in an arm chair with her feet up, looking at a picture of a black guy with dreads, wearing a purple suit but no shirt. The picture is signed, _With all my love, Laurent_.

Bree's cell rings and she picks it up.

"They've cut the hard line. It's a trap—get out!" Jasper's voice is frantic, and Bree wastes no time in getting to her feet.

She opens the curtains only to find that the window is gone, and there is a brick wall in its place.

"Oh no..." Bree realizes that agents are coming and dashes over to a chest, pulling out an impressive handful of weapons, but she knows it's not going to be enough.

As she stands up and aims in the direction of the double doors directly ahead of her, they burst open and a rain of bullets enters.

~X~

In the real world, Emmett stands over Bree's tiny body, watching it spasm and then relax. A trickle of blood falls from the side of her mouth.

~X~

In the Matrix, downstairs, Carlisle walks over to a window to find another brick wall.

"That's what they changed. It's a trap—there's no way out!" James panics, and Carlisle instructs him to be calm.

Carlisle turns to Edward. "Give me your phone."

As he hands it over, Edward reminds his captain, "They'll be able to track it."

"We have no choice." Carlisle's brow wrinkles and he takes the phone and puts it to his ear.

"Operator." Jasper answers immediately, but there is a thickness to his voice. Carlisle knows this means bad news.

"Jasper, find a structural drawing of this building. Find it fast."

As if he had one prepared, Jasper finds what he needs at his fingertips. "Got it."

"I need the main wet wall." Carlisle waits for Jasper to find it, his body tense as he worries for the well-being of his crew.

~X~

Downstairs from the surviving members of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar, Agent Jane pauses as she places her foot on the next step. She puts her finger to her earpiece.

"Eighth floor."

"They're on the eighth floor," Agent Demetri confirms.

~X~

Carlisle leads the others through corridors in the direction Jasper indicated.

"Alice, straight ahead," he commands, and Alice complies immediately, checking that the way is clear.

"Bella," Rosalie says, holding out a gun for her to take. "I hope the Oracle gave you some good news."

"Another left—that's it," Jasper's voice says to Carlisle through the cell.

"Good." Carlisle tucks the phone back in his pocket.

~X~

The SWAT team reaches the eighth floor, apprehensively making their way through the same corridors, following the direction that the Agents say the terrorists headed. They're well aware of the reputations of those they track.

When they reach the final unchecked room and find it empty, they are confused.

On the other side of the tiles in the bathroom, a shower of dust falls onto James. He feigns an attempt to hold it in, but a sneeze escapes.

The SWAT team spins around.

"They're in the walls! They're in the walls!"

As they open fire, Bella uses a gun for the first time, flinching at the recoil.

One of the SWAT team is overtaken by a silver film on his skin, and changes into Agent Jane. As soon as she's formed, she marches over to the wall, punches through, and grabs Bella by the neck.

"It's an agent!" James states the obvious.

Alice yells and bursts through the wall, landing on Agent Jane and freeing Bella.

"Alice!" Edward cries out.

Still pinning Agent Jane to the floor, she shouts to the others, "You must get Bella out. She's all that matters."

"No." The full horror of the Oracle's prediction returns to Bella. "No, Alice—don't!"

"Go," Carlisle orders, and he, James, and Rosalie, make a sliding descent, tearing away wood and plaster with their boots.

"Bella, go." Edward grabs her.

"We can't leave her!" Bella understands how dangerous agents are, and looking at Alice through the puncture wound in the wall that Agent Jane left, Alice looks so small and delicate.

"We have to," Edward replies, and then tugs hard, taking Bella with him during his controlled fall.


	12. Chapter 12 We Meet at Last

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

I can't wait to put the Edward and James/Trinity and Cypher conversation into words. It's one of my favourite scenes!

~X~

Carlisle, Rosalie, James, Edward and Bella make their way out of the building, dropping into an underground parking lot. In a split second, they're aware of the regular cops waiting in readiness. Smoke bombs send a mist rolling towards them.

Most bolt immediately, but Edward pauses as James falters.

"James, come on."

He makes no move, and after a pause, Edward leaves him, joining the others by plummeting down a manhole.

~X~

Back in the bathroom, riddled with bullet holes and shattered tiles, Agent Jane looks up at Alice. "The great Alice Cullen—we meet at last."

She continues to lie on her back underneath her dark, tiny captor. Both are covered with a film of white dust.

Alice looks down with contempt, her grip on her equally tiny, blonde prisoner. "And you are?"

"Jane. Agent Jane." Her voice is even with a hint of amusement.

"You all look the same to me," Alice spits.

Finally showing her true strength and why the idea of being held by this…thing on top of her is so ridiculous, Agent Jane pushes backs Alice's hands until they're well away from her body.

Alice smashes her forehead into Agent Jane's face. In response, Jane grabs Alice by the neck and reciprocates the action three times, causing her opponent to make a choking noise and take a few brief moments to regain her senses.

Before Alice has a chance to orientate herself, Jane smashes a fist into her chest and she flies back into the wall, shattering a porcelain sink with another grunt. Alice is now caked with a mixture of white dust and blood.

Using only the flick of her ankles to stand up from her lying position, Jane waits for Alice to attack.

Striding forward, Alice aims a side kick, which Agent Jane blocks easily, along with the follow up punch, though she's unable to catch Alice's knee, which connects with her stomach. Alice punches Jane square in the chest, but before she can pull her fist to land another, Jane's hits her target, and Alice staggers.

As the sides of both hands smash into her clavicle, Alice is too stunned to make any attempt to avoid the slap Jane aims, and then Alice loses her footing again, this time destroying the toilet bowl. As she manages to get to her hands and knees, Alice is knocked into the wall again as Jane's foot connects with her stomach. But the pain now clears Alice's mind enough to right herself, and continue her attack.

Shaking the dust out of her eyes, Alice blocks Jane's fist, and then drops to balance on one hand while she gives two hard kicks to Agent Jane's stomach, then returning to an upright position in time to strike a firm left hook to Jane's face.

It's not firm enough to prevent Jane's retaliatory right hook, and Alice stumbles toward the wall. Ducking, Alice avoids Jane's fist, which smashes through the brick work, and then dances out of the way of a number of follow up jabs.

They exchange and block punches until an elbow to Alice's cheekbone sends her flying into a corner.

Jane is on her straight away, but Alice manages the impossible by blocking almost every fist, and then her knee connects with Jane's stomach again, pushing her halfway across the room.

Jane charges again, but Alice leaps into the air, using the hold of her feet and the stiffness in her arms and back against the broken tiles to keep her torso above Jane's reach. Alice tries to kick out, but Jane grabs her calf and flings her across the room, screaming.

Alice lands on her back, her digital spine cracking and sending shocks of agony throughout her body. As she rolls over, she sees Agent Jane looking down at her with sadistic glee, before she turns and walks out of the door where a number of dumbfounded SWAT team members have been watching the exchange.

Pausing, Agent Jane looks back and watches Alice use the smashed sink to get to her feet. "Take her."

The SWAT team pours in, nightsticks drawn, and though Alice lands a punch on the first arrival, they soon beat her down to the floor.

~X~

On the Neb, Jasper is watching.

"No…" He feels impotent, and wishes that he could do something, anything, to help the woman he loves.

There is a call, and never taking his eyes of the strings of characters that represent Alice, he answers.

"Operator."

"Yeah, I need an exit—fast!"

"James?"

"Yeah." James wonders how to explain managing to escape Agent Felix and Demetri's clutches. "There was an accident—a goddamn car accident. All of a sudden—boom! Somebody up there still likes me."

"Gotcha." Jasper finds him on his screen.

"Get me out of here fast," James yells as he continues to run.

Jasper's eyes flick over the screen, looking for the nearest exit. "Intersection of Franklin and Erie—an old TV repair shop."

"Right." James hangs up on his cell.

~X~

Elsewhere, the others are walking down the street at a brisk pace, having lost the police.

Edward pulls out his phone and dials. "Jasper, it's me."

Bella trots alongside him like a puppy at its master's heels. "Is Alice alive?"

Edward repeats Bella's question.

"Yeah. They're moving her—I don't know where to yet."

Edward turns to Bella. "She's alive." His attention returns to the cell in his hand. "We need an exit."

"You're not far from James," Jasper informs them as his eyes scan the screen.

"James?" Edward asks. He thought that James was gone for good after he hesitated.

"Yeah, I know." Jasper understands exactly what Edward means. "He's at Franklin and Erie."

"Got it." He puts away his cell and lets the others know where they are headed.

~X~

"Got him." Jasper shouts across to Emmett, who presses the button onscreen to bring James back to the real world.

James' eyes open, and he gasps at the familiar sensation of the plug being removed. His eyes move from left to right, surveying the scene.

Once he gets to his feet, he joins Jasper in front of the screens. "Where are they?"

Looking at the symbols, he can see that they're almost at the exit—James has to act fast.

"Making the call." Distractedly, Jasper answers while he concentrates on getting everything ready to get the others out.

"Good." James pats him on the shoulder and then steps away.


	13. Chapter 13 All I Do is Pull the Plug

**Chapter 13 – All I Do is Pull the Plug**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

This is one of my favourite scenes. I can't believe I waited so long to write it! (Exam/revision/uni drama—long story!)

~X~

A pair of hands push back an old brown blanket, and pick up the electromagnetic cannon hidden beneath it. Usually it's a weapon used against the machines when they attack—this time its intended purpose is very different.

Jasper stares at the screens in front of him, determined to bring the others home before he allows himself to obsess over where Alice is and what they're doing to her. He's so intent on watching their progress as they enter the TV shop that he doesn't hear James come up behind him.

Getting a firm hold of the cumbersome cannon, James looks at the crosshairs on the small screen, and then aims at Jasper while his back is turned. He squeezes the trigger, and a burst of blue light strikes the oblivious operator, flinging him from his seat, a large black scorch mark already formed on his thick woollen jumper—the one Alice knitted him for their fifth anniversary.

The many screens crackle as the lightning flicks over them, the green cascades turning to black nothingness.

Managing to keep his wits despite the burning pain stinging his entire body, Jasper regains his footing and swings around, only for James to send a longer pulse from the electromagnetic weapon his way.

With wide, horrified eyes, Emmett watches his brother being hit square in the chest and propelled backwards, landing awkwardly and unmoving.

"_Nooooooo!__" _Charging straight at James, he is stopped in his tracks by another long, blue surge of burning light.

~X~

The shrill ringing of the seldom used retro black phone scatters the dust on the table it's sitting on; on the phone itself, the cobwebs have been brushed away by James. Now it rings out for the group opening the already broken door and whose feet kick up more dust as they make their way down the corridor.

Up front, Edward leads, barely noticing the wispy webs floating from the ceiling above, but Bella can't help but take in the smell of musty old wood.

Edward is first to the table, but he nods in Bella's direction. "You first, Bella."

She gives the slightest of nods, and lifts the receiver to her ear. Instead of the familiar loading sound, there is nothing but the single, uninterrupted tone telling him that Jasper has hung up.

Edward gives her a puzzled look, wondering why she's still here.

"It just went dead," Bella explains.

Edward holds out his hand and Bella passes the receiver over. A half second of listening confirms her story and Edward slams it back on its holder, reaching for his cell as Carlisle, Rosalie, and Bella look on.

Rosalie draws her pistol and waits restlessly, while Edward paces and listens to the dialling tone.

~X~

Stepping over the charred red and black body of Emmett, James walks over to where Jasper lies, the wound to the his stomach still smoking. James collects the headset from his crew mate's head and drops the gun, allowing it to clunk to the floor.

"Hello, Edward," he drawls calmly as he picks up, looking at Edward's body as he speaks to the conscious part of him still trapped in the Matrix.

"James?" Edward stops in his tracks—something is very wrong. "Where's Jasper?"

James stops at Bella's body, and leans over her, breathing in the scent of her skin...her hair...

Stroking Bella's décolletage, he speaks with almost a whisper. "You know, for a long time I thought I was in love with Bella. I used to dream about her." His face inches from hers, he runs his fingers through her short dark hair, wishing it was as long as it still was in the Matrix. "She's a beautiful woman."

"You killed them!" Edward vocalizes his realization.

"What?" Carlisle takes a step forward.

Rosalie's head whips around.

His lips a hair's breadth from Bellas, James speaks again. "I'm tired, Edward. I'm tired of this war. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of this ship, being cold...eating the same goddamn goop every day." His voice raises a little as he speaks, feeling less sad about what might have been with his brown-haired girl, and remembering why he's doing this in the first place.

"But most of all, I'm tired of those jack-offs and all of their bullshit." He leaps onto Alice's chair, sharing it with her motionless form. "Well, surprise, bitch! I bet you never saw this coming, did ya?" His eyes grow wistful. "God, I wish I could be there...when they break you. I wish I could walk in just when it happens, so right then you'd know it was me."

James breaks into a wide smile, but Alice doesn't respond and he climbs off, walking towards Carlisle's chair next along the line.

"You gave them Alice." Edward's mind is racing a mile a minute, half of him wanting to put his fist through the phone and hurt the voice speaking to him, the other half knowing that he's got to talk James down.

"They lied to us, Edward. Carlisle tricked us. If he'd told us the truth, we would've told him to shove that red pill right up his ass."

Bella watches the exchange, not quite hearing the muffled voice through the phone, but she can hear James' anger. Carlisle stands by, watching Edward speak, wanting to take over but knowing that Edward is probably the closest friend James has on the Neb. Rosalie's thoughts generally involve beating James to a pulp. If he'd hurt Emmett in any way...

"That's not true, James. He set us free." Edward starts pacing again.

"Free? You call _this _free? All I do is what he tells me to do." James pauses and looks down at Carlisle's face. "If I had to choose between that and the Matrix—well, I choose _the__Matrix_."

"The Matrix isn't real!" Edward's frustration starts to break through.

"I disagree, Edward. I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world." James' hand winds round the back of Carlisle's chair. "All I do is pull the plug here, but there you have to watch Carlisle die."

"Edward..." Carlisle sees the way Edward is looking in his direction, and understands what it means. Then he falls to the ground with a blank expression on his face.

"No!" Rosalie rushes over to him, discarding her weapon and looking up at Edward with furious eyes. Emmett must be dead—he would never allow this to happen.

"Welcome to the real world, huh, Edward?" James says as he saunters round to where Rosalie is lying, all the nerves he felt when he first carried out his plan forgotten.

"But you're out, James. You can't go back." Edward looks down at Rosalie and Carlisle, feeling weak and ineffectual. If only he'd tried harder, distracted him more...

"That's what _you_ think. They're going to reinsert my body," James explains. "I go back to sleep and when I wake up, I won't remember a goddamn thing. By the way, if you have anything terribly important to say to Rosalie, I suggest you say it now."

Shaking his head, Edward whispers, "No, please don't..."

"Not like this." Rosalie looks up at Edward. "Not like this."

Rosalie becomes limp and collapses over Carlisle, her eyes wide open but unseeing.

"Too late." Without emotion, James has pulled the plug. Rosalie was always a bitch to him anyhow—she's probably the one he's going to miss the least.

"Goddamn you, James," Edward yells, his face twisted with pain at watching his surrogate father and adopted sister die.

"Don't hate me, Edward. I'm just a messenger, and right now, I'm going to prove it to you. If Alice was right, then there's no way I can pull this plug." James had considered killing Edward next, but his reactions are just too priceless.

Running his hand around the back of Bella's chair, he gives her face one last look. After all, when he's back in the Matrix he won't remember this—he won't remember _her_. He won't remember any of these jackasses.

"I mean, if Bella's '_The__ One__'_ then there'd have to be some kinda miracle to stop me. How can she be 'The One' if she's dead?"

Feeling hopeless Edward stares at Bella, who is kneeling over Carlisle and Rosalie's inert forms. Bella turns and looks over her shoulder. Getting to her feet, she knows what's coming next.

"You never did answer me before—whether you bought into Carlisle and Alice's bullshit," James says, feeling bold and fully in charge of the situation. "Come on, all I want is a little yes or no. Look into her eyes—those big, pretty eyes. Tell me, yes...or no?"

Taking lungfuls of air he doesn't need, Edward gives Bella an intense look. She's standing there, waiting for death and wondering why it isn't coming. All she knows is that the buzzing of James' voice has stopped for a second, and Edward is looking at her in a way that doesn't make her feel entirely confident that she's going to see the next minute.

"Yes," Edward whispers into the handset.

"_No_, I don't believe it!" James yells, and then the line goes dead.

Back on the ship, a badly injured Jasper pulls himself upright, electromagnetic cannon in hand. Between gritted teeth, he hisses, "Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn."

A burst of lightning lights up the room, and James is thrown against the wall, the weight of his body breaking numerous pipelines and tearing down wires. Jasper spits in his general direction.

In the Matrix, Edward lowers the phone, as confused as Bella as to what just happened, but grateful for the extra time.

The old black phone on the table rings and both survivors jump. Bella recovers the more quickly of the two, and says, "You first."

Picking up the receiver, Edward exits the Matrix and wakes up on the Neb. Limping, Jasper helps to unplug him, and Edward notices the black mess around his middle.

"You're hurt."

"I'll be alright," Jasper grunts, but he's not convincing.

Edward hesitates for a second. "Emmett?"

Pressing his lips together tightly to stop his entire face from crumbling, Jasper shakes his head.


	14. Chapter 14 Evolution

**Chapter 14 - Evolution**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

~X~

The city sprawls outside of the window—a vast expanse of concrete and glass, colored in various shades of cream, brown, and green.

Jane observes it through the glass. "Have you ever stood and _stared_ at it—marvelled at its beauty…it's genius?" She leans forward to watch a stream of microscopic cars drive by on the thin black strips of road below, the swarms of humans pausing on the sidewalks before buzzing away to wherever it is that they intend to go. "Billions of people just living out their lives, oblivious."

She turns around and looks at Alice, firmly bound to a chair. Jane's equipment is neatly laid out on a table beside her captive, just so she can see what the near future holds. If Alice Cullen is smart, she'll confess earlier rather than later and save herself a lot of pain.

Even if she is brave and resists, everyone has their limit, and everyone talks once they're pushed beyond it. A sweet smile growing on her face, Jane ponders the fact that this one, this Alice Cullen, seems to be a fighter.

Her face is still slightly bloodied from their altercation, her jacket had been removed, and Alice wears a dusty and disheveled black shirt. Still, she has a look of defiance, and Jane smiles as she sees the tension in the vampire-proof cuffs. They will not break—many have tried before and many have failed.

"Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world where none suffered, where everyone would be happy? It was a disaster." Jane begins slowly making her way across the room to where Alice is glowering and clenching her fists silently.

"No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost." Jane pauses. "Some believe that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world, but I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering."

Sitting near Jane's table, ready and willing to assist, Agent Demetri draws a syringe of serum, a specifically programmed substance designed to break down the defences of even the most strong-willed of subjects. He then swings around on his typist's chair, taking a strong grip of Alice's neck, and injecting it roughly.

The captive's stony expression breaks slightly as a muffled gurgle sounds in her throat as the needle stings her flesh. _This is only the beginning_, she tells herself. _This is child's play—it will get worse._

"The perfect world was a dream your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from." Standing only two feet away, Jane pauses by her table while Demetri monitors the equipment. "Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this—the peak of your civilization." She motions towards the window with a half-interested thumb.

"I say _your_ civilization because as soon as we started thinking for you it really became _our_ civilization—which is, of course, what this is all about."

Alice's eyes widen as the serum hits her blood system, and Demetri smirks as the monitors tell him that he did his task well. Jane looks impassively over his shoulder, unimpressed, before making her way around to the back of Alice's chair.

"Evolution, Miss Cullen. Evolution. Look out of that window," Jane leans in closer to whisper in her ear, her hands on Alice's shoulders. The subject is beginning to struggle to keep her breathing even, her body tense yet weakening by the second. "You had your time. The future is _our_ world. The future is _our_ time."

The door bursts open and Agent Felix walks in.

"There could be a problem."

Pressing their earpieces, Agents Jane and Demetri receive the signal that the human informant has failed to neutralize the ship outside of the Matrix—the ship which still holds Alice Cullen's physical form even if her mind is imprisoned here.

"Never send a human to do a machine's job," Jane complains.

Agent Demetri gets to his feet. "If the insider has failed they'll sever the connection as soon as possible, unless…"

"…they're dead, in either case…" Felix continues his sentence.

"…we have no choice but to continue as planned. Deploy the sentinels—immediately." Agent Jane gives the final command.

~X~

Jasper, Edward , and Bella stand around Alice's body as it lies inert in its chair, yet the life monitor spikes and shows the stresses that her mind is suffering.

"What are they doing to her?" Bella asks.

"Breaking into her mind." Jasper replies somberly. "It's like hacking into a computer—all it takes is time."

"How much time?" Bella's mind is a whirl. Was it really this morning that they left this place to see the Oracle? It can't just be the three of them. This must be a dream—this can't be the real world. But how would she know?

"Depends on the mind. Eventually it will crack, and her alpha patterns will change from this." Jasper shows Alice's current readings, and then presses a button on the screen. "To this." The display shows Alice's already alarming readings changing to frantic red loops. "When it does, Alice will tell them anything they want to know."

"What do they want?"

Jasper looks Bella straight in the eye. "The leader and second-in-command of every ship is given codes to Zion's mainframe computer. If an agent got the codes and got into Zion's mainframe, it could destroy us. We can't let that happen."

Jasper turned to his other crewmate. "Edward…Zion's more important than me, or you, or even Alice."

Shaking her head, Bella speaks up again. "There has to be something we can do."

"There is." Jasper's face is hard and determined. It isn't just Alice's mind trapped in the Matrix, she has his soul in there with her, too. Without her he will still exist, but he'll be a walking, eating, breathing shell of the man he used to be. "We pull the plug."

Edward breaks his silence. "You're going to kill her? _Kill _Alice?

"We don't have any other choice." Jasper already feels empty, yet he forces himself to say the words. His voice is slow, part of him dragging out his love's last seconds. "Alice, you're more than a leader to us. You're our sister. We'll miss you always…"

As he wraps his hand around the plug embedded in the port buried amongst Alice's short, black hair, he feels as if he's holding a knife to his own chest.

"Stop." Bella's voice is quiet as she struggles to resurface from her thoughts. Only this morning, she saw Esme, the Oracle. Only this morning she thought about how there was no fate but what she made for herself…"I don't believe this is happening."

Jasper and Edward stare, frozen in position, not daring to move a muscle until Jasper speaks. "Bella, this has to be done."

"Does it? I…I don't know." She purses her lips and shakes her head in denial. She'd convinced herself that she didn't believe in all that crap—she was in charge of her own destiny. "This can't just be coincidence. It can't be."

"What are you talking about?" Jasper knows that every second they wait is another second given to the agents, but if Bella knows something…

The Oracle's words echo inside her. _You__'__re__ going__ to__ have__ to __make__ a__ choice. __In__ one__ hand__ you__'__ll__ have__ Alice__'__s __life,__ and__ in__ the __other__ hand__ you__'__ll__ have__ your __own.__ One __of__ you__ is__ going __to__ die__—__which__ one__ will__ be__ up__ to__ you._

"The Oracle—she told me this would happen. She told me that I would have to make a choice."

"What choice?" Edward had never believed in the Oracle before Bella arrived on the ship, and maybe for a short while after, but slowly, without him even noticing it creeping up on him, he had become a believer.

Bella looks between them both and then suddenly makes a move towards the main consoles, her decision made. Edward and Jasper follow behind her.

"What are you doing?" Edward watches Bella tap on the screen, preparing a loading program as if she's been doing this for years.

"I'm going in."

"No you're not."

Bella turns around and stares him in the eye, her voice quiet but determined. "I have to."

"Bella, Alice sacrificed herself so she could get you out." He leans in toward her to let her hear the weight of his words. "There's no way that you're going back in."

The small girl with short brown hair and large eyes looks up at him, but the kitten now has claws and there's a fire in her voice. "Alice did what she did because she believed that I'm something I'm not."

Jasper's face gives the slightest crack of emotion, but it's Edward who has difficulty comprehending what he's hearing.

"What?"

"I'm not the one, Edward. Esme hit me with that, too."

"No, you have to be."

Bella had always taken Edward for one of the more skeptical amongst the crew. Certainly, he'd never given her any indication that he believed that she was the One even a fraction as much as Alice or Carlisle, but standing there at that moment, Bella felt like she'd just punched a hole through his faith.

"I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm just another girl."

"No, Bella. That's not true. It _can__'__t_ be true."

Confused, Bella asks, "Why?" but Edward turns away, just like he did in the car on the way to the Oracle.

After Edward falls silent, Jasper steps forward. "Bella, this is _loco_. They've got Alice in a military controlled building. Even if you somehow got inside, those are agents holding her—three of them!" Inside he's hoping, wishing, praying, but the reality of the situation keeps nagging at him. "I want Alice back, too, but what you're talking about is _suicide_."

"I know that's what it looks like, but it's not. I can't explain to you why it's not." Bella looks at the expressions on the faces of the two men before her, and tries to find a way to make them understand without speaking the words out loud—my life for Alice's life.

Jasper himself had said that Zion was more important than anyone, and the Oracle had said that without Alice and Carlisle they were lost. This was the reason she'd been unplugged. _This_ was the choice fate had put before her, and Bella decided that the needs of the human race meant more to her than this cold, strange existence outside of the world she'd dreamed for the first nineteen years of her life.

"Alice believed something, and she was ready to give her life for it. I understand that now—that's why I have to go."

"Why?" Jasper asks, with half a mind to stop this madness now, and the other half wanting to grasp hold of the stick this girl was offering him.

Setting up the monitor over her chair, Bella replied confidently. "Because I believe in something."

It was Edward's turn to question her. "What?"

"I believe I can bring her back."

Jasper and Edward look between each other. There's no doubting that Bella believes it—it's written all over her face, and both of them know just how hard it is to change the mind of someone as set on a course as Bella is, especially when you want to share in that belief with every fiber of your being.

Edward thinks for a moment, and then walks over the chair next to the one Bella is preparing.

"What are you doing?" Bella pauses for a second.

"I'm going with you."

Bella's response is instantaneous. "No, you're not."

"No?" Edward stops her in her tracks and walks over, standing closer to her than he'd ever been. "Let me tell you what I believe—I believe Alice means more to me than she does to you. I believe that if you are really serious about saving her you're going to need my help. And since I'm the ranking officer on this ship, if you don't like it I believe you can go to hell…because you're not going anywhere else."

With Edward in her face, Bella wrestles with her conscience. The choice was Alice's life or her own, not Edward's. Before she can argue back, Edward commands Jasper to load them up.


	15. Chapter 15 Virus

**Chapter 15 - Virus**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

~X~

The plain, mass produced typists chair is swung around, and dragged across the carpet, coming to a halt in front of a slumped, shivering, and sweating Alice. She lifts her heavy head and looks at Agent Jane as she casually sits in front of her.

Inspecting her hands, Jane leans back in her chair. "I'd like to share a revelation I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals."

Without speaking, Alice manages to keep her eyes trained on the agent, whose words give her something to focus on—something to keep her mind in the moment.

"Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but humans do not. You move to an area and you _multiply_, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area."

Agent Jane leans in closer, and despite her shaking, Alice keeps her full attention on what she's saying. She has to keep strong—she has to keep them out of her mind…but it is getting so hard to hold them back.

"There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern—do you know what it is? A virus." Agent Jane continues her speech—her voice even and unemotional. "Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, and _we_ are the cure."

~X~

Jasper pulls his keyboard towards him, watching Edward and Bella in code form, already loaded into the blank, white construct program.

"Okay, so what do you need…besides a miracle."

Digital Bella, her long hair returned and dressed in the black leather outfit she gained when she became a virtual vampire, pauses to think for a moment.

"Guns—lots of guns."

Jasper presses a few buttons and in the construct, rack upon rack of every weapon conceivable rush by, whipping up Bella's hair and causing it to fly about her face before they come to a halt. Bella and Edward look around, spoiled for choice.

"Bella, no one has ever done anything like this." Edward speaks to Bella as she picks up a submachine gun. He is dressed in a long dark coat, as slick as ever, but his eyes show his concern.

Holding out the gun, Bella arms it, and confidently replies, "That's why it's going to work."

Back on the Neb, Jasper gets to his feet and walks over to Alice's body, mopping her forehead with a damp cloth, willing her to hold on.

"They're coming for you. They're coming."

~X~

Agent Jane is looking out of the office window, staring at the world beyond, before turning back to Agents Demetri and Felix. The masters had given her such dolts to work with—overdue an upgrade.

"Why isn't the serum working?"

Agent Demetri calmly stops his monitoring. "Perhaps we're asking the wrong questions?" Agent Jane sees the look he's giving her—the way he's trying to lay the blame at her door. Was his programming so deficient that he couldn't see that their preset approach was failing them? They had to move beyond that—they had to evolve.

"Leave me with her."

The two other agents glance at one another, confused.

"Now!"

Getting to their feet, Agents Felix and Demetri leave the room, wondering what it is that Agent Jane intends to do...and whether she's exceeding her programming.

Once the door closes behind them, Agent Jane returns to her seat and removes her ear piece. What she is about to do betrays the way her consciousness has been developing, how she has become more than just an automated system of control. Agent Jane is self-aware.

"I'm going to be honest with you." She leans in close, closer than before. "I hate this place—this zoo, this prison, this reality—whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer."

She looks down at Alice, sweat running down her face, a mess of biological processes and fluids. A virus. A disease.

"It's the smell—if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it." Agent Jane is no longer composed and she has lost her calm, even tone, running her hand over Alice's wet, salty face with disgust. "I can taste your stink, and every time I do I feel that I have somehow been infected by it. It's repulsive."

Her eyes rolling back into their sockets as the sensation of touch burns through her, Alice's mind almost gives the tiniest opening for the hacking system, but the door is quickly closed.

Agent Jane takes Alice's head in her hands, her face now only inches away. "I must get out of here. I must get _free_...and in this mind is the key. My key."

As Agent Jane's grip tightens, Alice feels her skull begin to buckle and fracture. _Not__ my__ skull__—__my __skull__ is__ back __on__ the__ Nebuchadnezzar_, Alice reminds herself. _I__ must__ be__ strong.__ I__ must__ not __break__—__better__ to__ be __killed__ here__ than __allow__ the__ machines __to__ destroy__ Zion_.

But Agent Jane does not give her a moment to rebuild her defences as she slowly increases the pressure. "Once Zion is destroyed there is no need for me to be here, don't you understand? I need the codes—I have to get inside Zion, and you have to tell me how. You are going to tell me, or you are going to die..."


	16. Chapter 16 The Lobby

**Chapter 16 – The Lobby**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

~X~

Edward enters through the revolving door, wearing his trademark long black coat over black sweater and pants, and dark glasses. Making his way over the polished green marble floor, he puts a heavy grey holdall on a conveyor belt.

Calmly, he steps through the metal detector and pauses once it beeps.

The heavy set security guard walks over, wand in hand, while Edward glances at the other guards to his left and right.

"Please remove any metallic items you're carrying—keys, loose change…"

Opening his coat, Edward reveals at least eight guns strapped to his person, and looks back at the guard through his shades.

"Holy shit!"

Before his co-workers can react, the first guard receives a flying palm to his chest and with a grunt he slides across the floor. Before the other guards can put down their newspapers or cups of coffee, Edward fires submachine guns in their direction as he strolls over to take cover behind a thick green marble pillar.

Crouching and backing away, one of the few survivors calls for backup on his radio, but there's another beep as Bella passes through the metal detector, gun in hand. She fires a number of bullets in his direction.

With a swish of her long latex coat as she collects the holdall and throws away her first gun, Edward looks down and sees himself reflected in her black sunglasses. Her face is almost emotionless apart from the determined set of her mouth, and he doesn't doubt her belief that this apparent suicide mission will work. He wants to share her belief so much because that would mean…

As they walk through into the main lobby side by side, Edward clears his mind by discarding his first two guns and arming another pair.

They hear rushing feet in the distance, and pause while a number of heavily armed soldiers scurry behind various pillars around the room. There is a series of clicks as they prepare their weapons, which comes to an end when one soldier yells, "Freeze!"

For a split second, Bella and Edward comply, only to look at one another and dart away in opposite directions at inhuman speeds. The soldiers open fire, only to hit air or marble.

As fragments of marble fly into the air around him, Edward opens fire in return, staying just ahead of the hail of bullets before dropping to the floor and rolling back behind a column. The soldiers continue to fire, chipping away at the stone like clumsy sculptors.

Running, Bella gracefully climbs up the wall and flips as if there was no gravity, avoiding the stream of bullets aimed at where she was half a second ago until she also finds cover.

A soldier approaches, his finger never leaving the trigger, until he stops to reload behind the almost destroyed pillar. Bella sees her moment and storms around the pile of rubble, kicking the weapon away and taking down the soldier with the follow up, then ducking behind the next column.

Pulling out another two guns, Edward waits until the pillar he's waiting behind is nothing more than a sliver of what it used to be before charging forward, both guns blazing, taking out one, two, and then three soldiers firing in his direction.

On the opposite side of the room, Bella sees that one soldier with a shot gun is more accurate than the others. While most of the attention is on Edward, she steps out from behind her column and behind her target, with a high-legged kick to the hand holding his weapon. Taking the weapon as it flies up into the air she then shoots him in the small of the back, and then the man next to him before he has a chance to shift his aim.

As the guns follow Edward, dust and sharp pieces of marble create a cloud that makes his lightning quick progress even harder for the humans to see. Cartwheeling, he manages to pick up an abandoned gun from the floor without missing a step, and then uses it to deadly effect before he's upright.

By the time he's found cover in an alcove, its ammo is spent, and he pulls out his final two guns, peppering the few remaining soldiers with bloody holes. He finishes the final man with a flying kick to the head, his helmet doing little to protect him from the force of the blow.

As he lands, his eyes desperately seek out Bella, and he sees her casually stroll over to the holdall still lying there abandoned where their dash had begun.

With the slightest of smiles, she picks it up and walks over to where Edward is standing, the scene around her one of total devastation.

Pressing the call button, the elevator doesn't keep them waiting long and they climb inside, dusty but entirely unharmed.

~X~

Agents Felix and Demetri open the door and walk back into the office where Agent Jane is holding Alice's head in a vice like grip. She turns and looks at the unexpected arrivals.

Agent Demetri gives her a confused look. "What were you doing?"

"She doesn't _know_," Agent Felix answers.

Releasing Alice, Agent Jane puts her earpiece back in place. "Know what?" The information she's missed suddenly comes flooding through.

By now, Alice is a wreck, unsure of where she is and what is happening, but Agent Demetri looks in her direction.

"I think they're trying to save her."


	17. Chapter 17 There is no Spoon

**Chapter 17 – There is No Spoon**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**Sorry for the delay. Taken a while to get my flow back after my exams. Thought finishing this might clear my head as I'm really into The Matrix right now.**

~X~

Bella removes her long latex jacket and opens the holdall. Inside the bag is a silver case. Once she purposefully opens the clasps, it reveals the bomb inside, and as Bella presses the buttons to activate the explosive device, Edward emergency stops their upwards progress at the forty-first floor. The elevator screen ironically tells them to have a nice day.

Edward pulls down a ceiling panel and disappears through the hatch as Bella arms the bomb and joins him. As her companion fastens his harness onto a cable, Bella pulls out her gun and aims at where the cable joins the counterweights. There is a jolt as the elevator drops a little. Bella takes a step closer and allows Edward to wrap a secure arm around her waist as she takes a firm hold in return.

She looks up at the shaking cables, up the elevator shaft, and takes a deep breath before whispering, "There is no spoon."

Confidently, she aims her gun down at the cable once more—it snaps, and they are yanked skywards.

With a shower of sparks and a metallic squeal, the lift plummets, hitting the earth with a crash and a burst of fire, blowing away the doors and engulfing the already destroyed lobby with flames that flow like liquid.

~X~

As Agent Jane catches up with the data feed through her ear piece, she and Agents Felix and Demetri stand motionless around a weakened and bloodied Alice.

The lights flicker and go out before water sprays from the sprinklers in the ceiling, soaking them all. As water drips down her face, Agent Jane commands, "Find them and destroy them!"

Agent Felix searches for suitable hardware wired to the system in proximity of the terrorists. He hears an army helicopter pilot calling in on his radio.

"I repeat, we are under attack!"

The pilot sees the two terrorists: the first, a slightly built brunette, wearing shiny latex and shades, takes down a bulky soldier twice her size in hand to hand combat. The other, a guy dressed in a long black coat, also in shades, grabs two guns, and then kicks the both soldiers twice in turn, in a move that the pilot only thought existed in martial arts films, disarming them both.

He can't believe what he's seeing, and he's seen many things in his time.

And then something changes. The pilot's thoughts become confused, interrupted. He reaches out for something to hold onto as he becomes disorientated, one hand splaying against the glass of the cockpit. As he silently screams, open mouthed, his body morphs into that of Agent Felix.

Using one of the weapons she's retrieved, Bella fires rapidly, taking down another soldier. She doesn't notice one of her stunned victims slowly getting to his feet behind her, his own gun in hand. As he takes aim, Edward whirls around and throws a knife, striking the plugged-in would be hero in the centre of his forehead.

The roof now seemingly cleared, Bella relaxes, throwing her spent rifle to the ground. As she turns to say thanks for Edward's help, she sees a change in his expression and his body grow tense.

Knowing what has joined them on top of the skyscraper, Bella takes a millisecond to compose herself before grabbing two new pistols from their holsters, turning and firing both in the direction of the agent.

Each shot is perfectly aimed, taking into account the rules of the Matrix—gravity, wind direction, and other artificially set laws of physics meant to recreate the fake human world. Not one bullet hits Agent Felix as he moves faster than the rules should allow, blurring with motion.

Composed and unflustered, Agent Felix pulls out his gun.

Bella stops firing and drops the now empty pistols. "Edward...help!" She stares down the barrel of the agent's gun.

The first bullet explodes forward, leaving a swirling trail of turbulence behind it as it flies towards Bella. Moving as quick as she can, Bella dodges the first, and falling backwards, she avoids a second with flailing arms. Time slows as she twists, ducks, and gets closer to the concrete with every shot, leaning back at an impossible angle. One bullet finally grazes her thigh, leaving a bloody grove of torn flesh exposed.

Lying on the floor, Bella looks at the approaching Agent, the bright false sun behind him blinding around his eclipsing shadow. Spent, Bella looks up at him defiantly.

Agent Felix points his gun at her in disdain. "Only human..."

There is a click as a handgun at his temple is armed.

"Dodge this." Edward fires at point blank range and Agent Felix is blown away with the force, his body returning to that of the pilot with a flash of electrical current once it hits the ground and lies motionless.

Edward holds out a hand to help Bella up. He gives a puzzling expression. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" she replies as she gets to her feet.

"You moved like they do. I've never seen anyone move that fast."

For a moment Bella wonders if she really has done something extraordinary, but then she sees the wound on her thigh. "Wasn't fast enough."

Her thoughts returning to their mission, she sees the abandoned helicopter and a plan begins to form in her mind.

"Can you fly that thing?"

"Not yet." Edward takes out his cell and waits for Jasper to pick up.

At the controls back on the Nebuchadnezzar, Jasper picks up. "Operator"

"Jasper, I need a programme for a V-212 helicopter. Hurry."

Jasper searches until he finds the correct one and then presses load.

In the Matrix, Edward's eyes flicker as if in R.E.M. sleep while the skills he needs are implanted in his mind.

His eyes open. "Let's go."


	18. Chapter 18 Walking the Path

**Chapter 18 – Walking the Path**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**Sorry for the delay. Again. Real life just totally taking over at the moment.**

~X~

Having found another host, Agent Felix joins Agents Jane and Demetri, who stand close guard over their captive, oblivious to the water from the ceiling drenching them all. Probability says that the target will come to them now they have managed to infiltrate the building, and this is where they will lie in wait.

Agent Felix admits focussing too much attention on the target and neglecting to take note of the position of his companion. That will not happen again. Now the agents are three in number—there is no way two of _them_, regardless of the number of guns and bullets they may have, will get through that door.

But they're not intending to come through the door. The whirring of helicopter blades and the vibration of the room alerts them to the helicopter descending outside.

Bella looks through the water streaming down the inside of the windows as the chopper turns and allows her to aim the machine gun in the right direction. She sees Alice slumped on the chair, and the three agents surrounding her, noticing the grimace of the short blonde one in particular.

"No," Agent Jane says aloud just before the glass shatters and a spray of bullets makes it way up the sodden carpet to Agent Felix and his only recently regenerated form.

Agents Jane and Demetri reach for their firearms, but the spray of water makes it difficult to calculate the required trajectory, particularly as they try to avoid the rapid fire of the bullets coming towards them.

Agent Demetri cannot move fast enough and he falls.

A stream of empty cases fall from the helicopter down to the streets below, as Bella tries to eliminate the remaining agent. Agent Jane manages to fire off another two rounds, dropping to one knee before a river of bullets snakes its way toward her, throwing her backwards. Her consciousness leaves her body with a flash of electricity, leaving a unknown law enforcement office lying in two inches of water.

Ceasing fire, the machine gun stops rotating and Bella looks on anxiously. Through the shattered window he can see Alice is the only person remaining alive in the room, but no doubt the agents will return soon—they are probably regenerating right now. Time is not on their side—certainly there is not enough for Bella to jump across and untie Alice. Edward is occupied with keeping the vehicle in the air.

"Alice, get up," Bella whispers under her breath. "Get up. Get up." She wills it with everything that she's got.

Alice's head, which was slumped over her chest, begins to rise, her eyes still rolled back in her head as she struggles with her drug addled digital body. Behind the chair she stretches her handcuffs tight and balls her tiny hands into fists.

Now having control of her vision, she stares up toward the ceiling, feeling the artificial rain on her face and trying to bring herself back from the mental and physical torture she has endured. The water is cold and sobering.

Realisation dawns. The agents are gone and she sees the helicopter beyond the shattered glass and twisted metal straight in front of her, and it looks like freedom. But the agents will return any second. She knows this.

With every ounce of her strength, and roaring with the effort, she stretches the metal of her bonds to breaking point, and begins removing the white wires attaching her to the machines monitoring her bio signs and brain waves, but as she gets to her feet, the door opens.

Agent Jane is the first through the door and the first to reach for her pistol.

Alice makes a run for the window but Agent Jane follows her position, firing even as she ducks behind a flimsy partition wall. To make it across the room she will have to sprint—a difficult job with a leg injury.

A perfectly aimed bullet rips through Alice's calf and she stumbles forward, plummeting rather than making the leap she had planned.

"She's not going to make it!" Bella cries and on instinct, without a second to think about the strength of the safety cable she had the forethought to fasten, she leaps from the helicopter towards the tiny girl half falling out of the window, arms stretched towards each other.

Two bodies collide in mid air, at least thirty floors above ground. Gravity gets hold of them and they begin to drop until Bella's safety cable is fully stretched, the force of the yank and Alice's momentum breaking their hold. Bella reaches out her hand and grabs hold of Alice's manacled wrist.

"Got you."

With his heart in his mouth, Edward sees that Bella has Alice and decides to get the chopper the hell out of there before the agents can make another move.

Agent Jane steps up to the window and sees the target and captive dangling helplessly at the end of the rope. It would be easy to shoot one or both, even as the helicopter stops hovering and pulls away, but why not eliminate all three at once?

From the schematics of the model in her memory banks, she locates the fuel tank and fires two holes through it.

Edward hears the shots and the dials before him go crazy as an alarm sounds. The fuel gauge swings suddenly towards red. All too aware that they are a fatal height above the ground he looks around for a solution, as Bella and Alice swing below. This is down to him and him alone to ensure they survive.

The flat roof of a sky scraper catches his attention. It's not so high that Alice and Bella couldn't drop onto it. He wrestles with the controls, struggles towards it and then circles as best he can.

Alice, looking down and seeing what Edward must be indicating, lets go and lands with a roll, looking up with concern as the chopper veers away.

With feet flailing as the helicopter drops, Bella finds her feet on the roof and watches the slowly churning blades of the falling hunk of metal.

"Edward!"

She looks at the cable still clipped to the harness around her body and pulls it tight, even as it begins to drag her across the concrete slabs towards the edge.

Edward scrambles from the cockpit, and sees the cable that he knows is attached to Bella. There is no time to even hope that she still has hold—it is Edward's only chance of survival, his life in Bella's hands. It's a fool's chance but he has to take it.

Standing on the very edge of the building, Bella sees Edward flying through the air, narrowly missing the blades as the helicopter plunges into a glass sky scraper across the way, the impact rippling outward in circles before exploding out in a shower of shards and powder, a fireball in its centre.

Edward smashes into the window a number of floors below with the force of the blast and his fall. Even Bella has to look away and put her faith in kismet, as she can feel the heat from the fireball from her high vantage point. Once it passes, she looks over the edge to find Edward still dangling.

On the Nebuchadnezzar, Jasper looks at the code in disbelief at what he's seeing. "I knew it. She's the one."

Bella begins to pull the rope, her eyes never leaving Edward until she can reach for his hand and drag him over. Stunned, they both stumble away from the edge and look at one another.

Alice joins them. "Do you believe it now, Edward?"

Edward looks at her and says nothing. There are no words.

"Alice..." Finally dragging her gaze away from Edward, Bella begins sheepishly. "The Oracle, she told me I'm—"

"She told you _exactly_ what you needed to hear. That's all." Bella sees from the conviction in Alice's face, and hears it in her voice, that all of this hasn't shaken her faith. "Bella, sooner or later you're going to realize—just as I did—that there's a difference between knowing the path and _walking_ the path."

Edward watches the girls thoughtfully as Bella digests the implications of recent events.

Jasper makes the call, his body tense with anticipation. The phone picks up. "Operator..."

"Jasper." A familiar voice answers.

The widest of grins stretches across his face. "Goddamn, it's good to hear your voice, Alice."

"We need an exit." There is no time for sentimentality.

Jasper is already prepared. He hasn't wasted a second of valuable preparation time. "Got one ready—subway station, State and Balboa."


	19. Chapter 19 Not Out Yet

**Chapter 19 – Not Out Yet**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**Okay, so I'm on a roll. Let's see what the next few days bring.**

~X~

The door to the sky scraper roof swings open and Agent Jane steps through, flanked by Agents Felix and Demetri.

They had gotten here quickly—numerous hardware had been witness to the helicopter crash, and some had even been observant enough to notice the miraculous escape of the occupants. Those closest had suddenly found themselves in replication, and became the three agents now inspecting the remains of the target's presence.

Agent Jane approaches the discarded harness, picks it up and grips it tightly as she listens to the sirens below. The target is more difficult to eliminate than anticipated. It vexes her. This one is different, she feels it. It makes her hungrier to complete the task.

"Damn it."

"The trace was completed." Noticing that Agent Jane is ignoring the feed through the ear piece, Agent Demetri vocalises the information being transmitted.

Agent Felix steps closer, aware of the same. "We have their position."

"The sentinels are standing by."

Both agents glance at Agent Jane and consider her non response. Agent Jane is not functioning as expecting. Perhaps she is glitching? Being programmed to automatically follow Jane's lead, there is a void to be filled.

"Order the strike." Agent Felix takes charge and exits the roof.

Agent Demetri remains a few moments longer, but sees that Jane makes no move to correct matters and so leaves with Felix. The matter will be dealt with by the system should she require repair. Fellow agents are beyond their remit.

Agent Jane is aware of the others, but she runs her own search. Somehow, to leave it to the mechanicals feels like failure, and Agent Jane refuses to fail. Eliminating the target feels as if it is the core of her very being.

"They're not out yet."

~x~

Three figures make their way down the staircase to the dusty abandoned subway platform, relieved to have made it to the exit. The nearby pay phone begins to ring—a sure sign that Jasper has been monitoring their arrival.

A bum, lying in a dark corner, has noticed the three arriving. This is usually his private hidey hole, and he hopes these kids aren't here to cause trouble like the last time he was disturbed. He stays as still as he can and observes.

Bella is taking no chances. "You first."

The short, black-haired girl with the dirty, wet shirt steps into the phone booth and picks up the receiver.

_What the hell?_ the bum thinks as she disappears before his eyes. Did he really see that? Was she just electrocuted? Vaporised? No—her companions are standing there calm as anything. He panics.

Something within him clicks. Something changes. Someone sees what he sees and wants to take over.

A tension builds between the two remaining figures as they wait for the phone to ring.

"Bella, I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid of what it would mean if I do." Edward has Bella's full attention. "Everything the Oracle has told me has come true...everything but this."

He looks at her, searching Bella's face. The physical attraction is undeniable—Edward would like her to be the one, he had since he had first seen her, but until today maybe he still needed convincing. Retrieving Alice, rescuing him, now that had been something else. Maybe all the convincing he needed...but then what happens next? If he says what he has been told, will it come to pass?

The phone rings and they both stare at it as a subway train rushes past.

Edward steps inside the booth and picks up the receiver, and as it presses to his ear he sees a figure emerge from the shadows, a pistol pointing straight at him. A hand reaches up to brace against the dirty window before the bullet shatters both the perspex and the receiver suspended in mid air.

Edward opens his eyes to feel the familiar, sick withdrawing sensation from the plug at the back of his head back in the real world. "Bella!"

"What the hell just happened?" Jasper shouts over from his console.

"An agent. You have to send me back!"

"I can't."

Bella looks at the broken receiver, relieved that Alice and Edward got out. She remembers what the Oracle said about the choice she would have to make. _In one hand you'll have Alice's life, and in the other hand, you'll have your own. One of you is going to die..._

"Miss Swan..." The figure steps into the dim light. Agent Jane approaches with a self-satisfied smirk. She has her target within her sights.

Bella can see that the exit has been destroyed. Can she make it up the subway steps and away, or is it time to turn and face her fate?

"Run, Bella. Run." Edward joins Alice and Jasper at the console, deciphering the code and willing her to move.

Bella pauses, and then turns away from the staircase to face the agent. She doesn't believe in any of this fate crap anyway. Didn't they say rescuing Alice couldn't be done? But Bella did it anyway. As she remembers the elation of pulling Edward over the edge and Alice's speech about walking the path, she gets a renewed wave of adrenaline.

If she really is The One she has to face agents at some time, right? And if she isn't The One, and her fate is to die now that Alice is safe, then she'd rather do it fighting and on her own terms. Edward even said "_You move like they do._"

"What is she doing?" Edward asks Alice to his right.

With a zealous light behind her eyes, Alice watches her protégé with pride. "She's beginning to believe."

Agent Jane looks along the length of the platform to see the target staring her down. All the statistics crunching in her mind are indicating that the human would opt for flight, the binary instructions in her brain willing her to prepare for pursuit, but Agent Jane knows otherwise—this one is different, and to eliminate the target Agent Jane will have to exceed her programming, ignore it. Evolve.

Tightening her fists, Agent Jane feels like a cobra ready to strike, waiting for her opponent to make a move, one way or the other. Loose sheets of newspaper, disturbed by the train, blow across the distance between the two like tumbleweeds at a Wild West show down.

Bella reaches for the gun tucked into her waistband and fires, Agent Jane mirroring her action as Bella's foot strikes a pillar and launches her in the air. They meet with perfect precision, still firing as a wrist on each gun hand keeps the fatal shot at bay, rotating until gravity catches up and pulls them to the concrete, two pistols at each other's temples.

"You're empty," Agent Jane whispers, satisfied that she had kept track of each bullet that had left the chamber with every shot.

"So are you," Bella replies cockily, and Jane realises that she is right, much to her annoyance.

The target leaps away, righting herself with a spin as Jane gets to her feet in much less flamboyant fashion and discarding the now useless firearm. Bella does likewise.

_Guns are irrelevant,_ Agent Jane reassures herself as she cracks the programmed crunch in her neck. _I know every form of hand-to-hand combat known to man. I know more than one mere human could store in their biological brain. In this digital existence I am the elite._

Bella makes the first move, her arms flying with her free form, improvised approach to the martial arts knowledge she has absorbed. Each time her fist is blocked by the swift and solid movements of Agent Jane. Jane's fist connects with Bella's chest, swiftly followed by a kick to the stomach, causing Bella to stumble back into a pillar.

Agent Jane follows, throwing one ducked punch and then another, as Bella manages to dodge the blows and the concrete feeling the full force.

Bella manages a kick to Jane's stone-like stomach, then another two before planting the side of her black boot into Jane's determined face, wiping off its expression with a final roundhouse to the head.

This time Jane finds herself stumbling backwards into a post, stunned at the fight that is being put up—more so when she realises one of the lenses in her shades is damaged. The target looks back and Jane finds her insolence galling. Removing her broken eyewear and throwing them aside, her frustration finds voice.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Miss Swan." And it is true, so true. This is personal. This is beyond her initial programming.

She begins her assault, fresh with fury, the target unable to withstand the strength in Jane's fists. This is the programme's reason for being—Jane is designed to be stronger than any human, and this is Agent Jane demonstrating that fact. Bella tries to land a kick, but a punch to the thigh, groin, and her stomach sends her flying backwards into a wall with a grunt, the force crumpling the concrete like damp cardboard.

But she has not given up hope yet. The agent is strong, but her strength is based on rules. Bella was born to break rules. As the agent approaches, Bella lands a two-footed kick to her stomach, knocking the agent back. Bella meets her with her fists, the agent blocking at first but not quick enough to stop three swift punches to her chest and one to the face.

But Jane traps the next fist aimed in her direction under her armpit, and then the other, punctuating with two head butts, and then trapping Bella's knee before it can connect with its target. A punch with all of Agent Jane's force behind it sends Bella backwards with a jolt.

Agent Jane aims for Bella's head once, twice, as she weaves out of the way. But Bella is not quick enough as Jane makes a feint third and instead grabs Bella's bicep, jabbing her ribs twice before landing a scorpion kick to Bella's face.

Mimicking the agent, Bella avoids a blow to the head, and using the agent's bicep to hold her still, high kicks into Jane's face, a chop to the stomach, and a boot into Jane's chest.

Jane recovers quickly, blocking Bella's follow ups and countering with blows that launch Bella the length of the platform. She curls into a ball as she lands, a blood-laced gasp escaping in both the Matrix and the real world.

"Jesus, she's killing her." Edward tears a strip of fabric off his sleeve and wipes the red stain from Bella's real life mouth.

Registering the pain, Bella sees Agent Jane approach, her face smug with anticipated victory, but Bella hasn't given up yet. _I'm either The One, or I'm dead. _

She rights herself and wipes her digital mouth, watching Agent Jane's face drop. Bella performs her pose, with an insolent beckon towards the agent to come try again.

Jane bats the beckoning hand away, but this time it is Bella that utilises the agent's trick of trapping fists and landing two head butts. A heavy punch causes Jane to reel, and Bella chases with mid air bicycle kicks.

Agent Jane catches Bella's wrist, halting her fist only inches away from her upper chest, only to have Bella extend her fingers and trap Jane's windpipe. A punch to Jane's temple, a punch to the chest, a chop to the neck, a boot to her chin, but then Bella's kick to Jane's ribs is trapped, Bella's punches seemingly nothing as Jane lifts Bella by her leg and slams her into the wall.

While Bella is still hunched against the perforated concrete, Jane is there with an impossible number of inhumanly fast jabs to Bella's digital stomach. Real life Bella convulses in her chair back on the Nebuchadnezzar.

Tiring of the rapid fire jabs, Jane pulls Bella away from the wall and punches her backwards into an abandoned kiosk. The whistling of the rails gives the agent an idea.

Dragging a weak and flailing Bella by her leg, she then tosses her onto the line as if she was a doll, watching from the platform as she writhes, dusty and bleeding amongst the crumbled masonry. The increasing scream of the approaching train is music to his ears, but this time Jane is leaving nothing to chance. She jumps down to join Bella, holding her pathetically struggling victim's head in a tight headlock.

"Do you hear that, Miss Swan? That is the sound of inevitability." Bella continues to try to escape Jane's grip as they look towards the twin headlights hurtling their way. "That is the sound of your death. Goodbye, Miss Swan."

Struggling to speak through the blood and the choke hold, Bella retorts, "My name is Bella."

Using the leverage in her thighs and her last ounce of strength, Bella leaps into the air, slamming them both into the ceiling. As they both fall back to the rails, Bella has just enough time to jump out of the way as Jane scrambles to her feet after her. Bella teeters on the edge as Jane is swept away.

Backing away, Bella begins to stagger towards the staircase. With each bound she recovers, the bounce back in her step, but a squeal causes her to pause before she can ascend the stairs.

The train has stopped and Agent Jane, newly replicated and entirely undamaged, emerges.

Bella breaks into a sprint.


	20. Chapter 20 Room 303

**Chapter 20 – Room 303**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**I took the characters from Twilight and the plot, dialogue and imagery from the Matrix. It would be polite to credit me if you reuse the work I put into translating the action into words.**

~X~

"What happened?" Edward panics as he sees the look on Jasper's face.

"I don't know—I lost her...oh shit!"

Jasper notices the proximity alarms flashing on a separate screen and looks to Alice.

Edward sees too. "Sentinels. How long?"

Alice looks at the display. "Five, maybe six minutes. Jasper, charge the EMP."

"You can't use that until she's out!"

"I know, Edward. Don't worry, she's going to make it," Alice replies, an air of certainty in her tone.

~X~

As Bella hurtles along the street, she notices a guy from school standing on the street corner, Eric Yorkie, talking animatedly into a cell phone. As she passes, Bella snatches the cell straight out of his hand.

Eric turns to see the thief dashing away, her black outfit soiled and dusty.

"Shit! Hey, that's my phone. That girl's got my phone!"

Bella dials as she runs.

By the time Eric takes a second look, he has become Agent Jane.

~X~

The change alerts Jasper's attention in the real world.

"Got her. She's on the run."

He picks up an incoming call on his headset and hears the urgency in Bella's voice.

"Mr Wizard, get me the hell out of here!"

She doesn't miss a step as she hurtles through the crowded street, bearing in mind that anyone who isn't unplugged can be one of them.

Jasper looks at what he has locally. "Got a patch on an old exit—Wabash and Lake."

Bella grinds to a halt as the next corner reveals a busy market, full of people.

"Oh shit!"

She sees the commotion, and the familiar tall shape of Agent Felix appears, pushing through the crowd. Bella wastes no time, weaving her way through the throng. Agent Felix picks a member of the public up by the neck to clear his path, throwing him six feet into the air and into a stall.

A small Asian child looks up at her mother carrying groceries, only for the paper bag to drop and reveal Agent Jane, her pistol aimed, decimating a display of watermelons as Bella passes. The crowd turns into a full stampede as the gunfire causes widespread panic.

Bella sees Agent Demetri at the entrance of the street, and veers into an alleyway to avoid the bullets coming from his direction. Finding herself in a garbage-filled dead end she puts the cell back to her ear as she skids to a halt.

"Uh, help. Need a little help."

A glance the way she came shows the three agents following close behind.

"Door." A previously unseen door appears in the wall to Bella's right and she kicks her way through, even as Agent Jane's shots whistle around her.

She ascends a winding wooden staircase, wrapped around an old metal lift shaft, finally turning into a corridor which angles off to the right. Agent Felix appears at the opposite end, pistol drawn, and cell still to her ear, Bella hears Jasper's instructions.

"Door on your left!"

No time to think, Bella crashes into the door to her right, and it remains closed.

"No, your other left!"

As Agent Felix's bullet misses, Agent Demetri's almost brushes her ear as it whistles past, a little too close, but then Bella throws herself against the left hand door and it splinters open. A little old lady sits knitting in a chair, surprised at the intrusion. Bella runs through to the kitchen to find another old lady preparing dinner.

"Back door!"

Bella has enough time to lunge away, the knife the old lady was previously using sinking into the wooden door frame, thrown by Agent Jane.

Bella descends a flight of the fire escape, leaping over the railing at the end into a dumpster full of garbage as she hears the agents' shoes on the steps behind her. Agent Felix lands behind her as she scrambles to her feet.

~X~

The sentinels arrive with a clank, as they land on the Nebuchadnezzar. Cutting lasers begin to burn the metal skin of the hover craft almost immediately.

"Oh no." Edward hears the sound and knows exactly what it means.

"Here they come," Alice says ominously, looking in the direction of the intruders. She opens the cover and arms the EMP in readiness. Edward gives her a pointed look.

Alice returns the stare. "She's going to make it."

~X~

Agent Jane waits outside the hotel where she warned Chief Swan that his men were already dead, and then observes Bella running by, hotly pursued by Agent Felix. Her hunch was right.

Bella's lifeline is still firmly pressed to her ear.

"Fire escape at the end of the alley! Room 303."

Dropping the device to be able to leap onto and climb the ladder, she can hear Agents Felix and Demetri arrive only seconds after. Agent Felix climbs while Demetri empties another clip in Bella's direction. The shots ricochet off the metal around her, but she doesn't pause or slow down.

Seeing that she is more nimble than he is, Agent Felix stops to fire a number of shots.

Bella reaches the third floor and bursts though the wooden fire exit door. Agent Felix continues the chase.

~X~

The epidermis of the Nebuchadnezzar is prised apart with metal grips, and the proximity alarm clamours even louder as it changes to a hull breach warning.

Tentacles slither through the gap, even as it is being forced wider to allow the Squiddy's body through.

"They're inside." No longer in contact with Bella, all Jasper can do now is watch and hope, Alice at his side.

The sound of vital parts of the craft's engineering being destroyed echoes through the hull and Edward looks down at the body still strapped into the chair.

"Hurry, Bella."

~X~

She winds her way through the dingy corridors, looking desperately at the numbers on the doors as she passes. Bella hears the ringing of the telephone before she sees the brass stamped with the numbers 3-0-3.

As she pushes open the wet dark green-painted door, she finds herself confronted with Agent Jane, her pistol only inches away from Bella's chest.

The agent squeezes the trigger and Bella hears the muffled explosion. It takes half a second to realise what has happened, and register that she has been shot at point blank range, blood pouring from the wound in her chest as her fingers come away red and sticky.

Agent Smith shoots her in the torso three more times and Bella staggers backwards into the hallway. Once her back reaches a solid surface, Bella slides to the floor, leaving a blood soaked trail behind her.

Alice and Jasper watch her life signs go flat in disbelief.

"It can't be." But Alice's eyes don't deceive her.


	21. Chapter 21 The One

**Chapter 21 – The One**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**I took the characters from Twilight and the plot, dialogue and imagery from the Matrix. It would be polite to credit me if you reuse the work I put into translating the action into words.**

~X~

Agent Jane looks down at Bella's corpse, still processing the fact that her first, perfectly aimed shot seemed to have no effect. She felt the recoil but somehow the process did not follow through as it should. Agent Jane feels confused at this breaking of the rules and needs confirmation.

She nods to her fellow agents. "Check her."

Agent Demetri crouches besides Bella's inert form and checks her pulse. "She's gone."

Agents Demetri and Felix leave the scene without emotion, but Agent Jane lingers a while, turning and smirking at the crumpled human in the hallway.

"Goodbye, Miss Swan."

~X~

A red beam cuts through the metal roof above, piercing through to the floor below and passing by the interface where Edward puts his arms around Bella's body as she remains plugged into her chair.

James' voice rings in his head. _"How can she be the one if she's dead?"_

He denies what the console is telling him and the heaviness pooling in his guts and chest. He doesn't believe it, not before he has had the chance to say what he had wanted to. Bella is the One. He knows it—had suspected for some time but when she saved him from the falling helicopter it was confirmed beyond all doubt. The Oracle was right. She has to be right. Has to be.

"Bella, I'm not afraid anymore," Edward whispers as he looks down at her paler than pale skin, her still lips, slightly parted but no breath escaping between them. "The Oracle told me that I would fall in love, and that girl—the girl that I loved—would be the One."

Sparks rain down upon them, making the shadows on Bella's face dance.

"So you see," Edward continues, oblivious to all that is going on around them both. "You can't be dead. You can't be, because I love you—you hear me? I love you."

He lowers his face to hers and kisses her lightly, his lips lingering on hers as long as he can bear, trying not to think about how warm and soft they are now and how soon they might grow stiff and cold. Sparks cascade down like fireworks.

He pulls away slowly, for a moment thinking he senses movement. Is it a trick of the light? Is it wishful thinking?

Bella's mouth opens in a desperate gasp for air. Edward's eyes fly to the screen above them as it bursts into life, the image of Bella's heart jolting into action.

~X~

In the Matrix, Bella's eyes snap open and she blinks, as if waking from sleep.

He can hear Edward's voice in the real world as he demands, "Now get up."

Alice and Jasper stare at the display, dumbfounded. This can't happen, but it is.

Bella in the Matrix stands and Agent Jane senses motion behind her, turning to analyse it. The dolt obviously does not know how to check a human's pulse correctly, as Miss Swan is still very much alive and on her feet. She takes a nanosecond as she lifts her gun in sync with the other agents to wonder how each shot has missed a vital organ. Every one should have been fatal. No matter. All three agents take aim.

"No." Bella sees what they are doing as if in slow motion and decides that the bullets exploding from the three agents' barrels in rapid succession will not stop her. She puts her hand up and the missiles hang in the air before her, obeying her command as she wills it into being.

The agent's lower their guns. What they see does not compute. It defies physics, the very programming of the Matrix.

Full of wonder Bella plucks a suspended bullet and examines it. Instead of a bullet she sees the program written to govern it. She discards it and its brothers fall to the floor moments after, again by her design as she decides to reinstate the force of gravity upon them.

~X~

Even as the ship is ripped and ruined, Alice and Jasper are transfixed by the miracle unfolding.

"How?!" Jasper asks aloud.

Alice cannot turn away from what she sees. As much as she believed with every fibre of her being up until this moment, the witnessing of it coming to pass is something to behold. "She is the One."

~X~

Calmly, Bella looks up, seeing the strings of code running up and down the walls and across the floor, becoming more complicated as it makes up the three agents at the end of the hallway.

Like the rules of a computer programme, the code can be bent and broken.

Something bubbles over within Agent Jane and grimacing with rage, she launches towards Bella, fists flying. Bella can see each preset, calculated move and anticipates and deflects each blow with infuriating ease, even showboating as she places her right arm behind her and battles only with her left. She grabs Agent Jane's wrist and then aims a slow, perfectly aimed kick flatly against Agent Jane's chest. The force sends the previously invincible agent through air for a number of seconds before she falls heavily to the floor.

Agent Jane struggles to comprehend. How? She is stronger, she has proven that already. The rules of this place say she cannot be beaten by this...hacker.

She watches as Bella slowly brings her leg back down into place. The human strides towards her purposefully and Jane braces herself for combat. She will not be defeated.

Bella begins to sprint but instead of the blow Agent Jane expects, she dives forward, piercing Jane's stomach and disappearing inside, somehow amalgamating within her. She turns to Agents Felix and Demetri for help with this situation that she has no guidance to deal with, yet they take a step back from her.

Agent Jane feels her code corrupting, manifesting in ripples and bubbles in her digital form. She gnashes her teeth, tries to fight it, but doesn't not know how to begin. It is almost like she is being taken over, as she herself has done to countless hardware plugged into the system down the years, but different. Agent Jane feels herself fragmenting, being torn apart.

Her forehead cracks open in a ripple of blinding light, and it spreads throughout her body before building to critical pressure as Agent Jane explodes, pieces of programming bursting all over the hall as Agents Felix and Demetri shield themselves.

When it passes they look to find Miss Swan standing where Agent Jane had moments before, taking a brief moment to recentre herself. As she does the walls bend and ripple with unseen force; Bella takes a deep breath and opens her eyes in their direction. They look at one another and bolt.

~X~

A laser beam cuts through behind where Jasper and Alice are sitting, forcing them out of their trance, and as the catwalk is sheared away only now do they realise the desperation of their situation. But what they have just seen was like a religious experience. There must be a way, some miracle even as the squiddies search and destroy the Neb.

One finds Edward and Bella and takes aim, readying its tentacles, Edward shielding Bella's body with his own.

The phone rings in the Matrix and digital Bella lurches towards it.

Hand already on the shaft of the plug still inserted deep into Bella's brain, Edward yells "Now!" the millisecond her mind returns to the real world and the flashing red switch for the EMP is activated.

The squiddies poised for action drop to the earth as blue energy ravages them, rendering them useless. Their rampage comes to an end just in the nick of time.

Edward is the first thing Bella sees when she opens her eyes in the real world and for a moment she can't escape his gaze. She can see a swirl of emotions playing within in them, and winds her hand around the base of his neck. He lifts the back of his hand to her check and gently traces her cheekbone, before Bella gently encourages his face down to hers for their second kiss.


	22. Chapter 22 How This Is Going to Begin

**Epilogue – How This is Going to Begin**

**The Twilatrix**

**I do not own Twilight or the Matrix. If I did I would be minted—and I assure you that I'm not. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.**

**I took the characters from Twilight and the plot, dialogue and imagery from the Matrix. It would be polite to credit me if you reuse the work I put into translating the action into words.**

~X~

The green cursor flashes patiently on the black screen until the alert is received.

_Call trans opt: received. 9-18-99 14:32:21 REC:Log_

The screen refreshes.

_WARNING: carrier anomaly_

_Trace program: running_

The trace begins, the streams of numbers beginning to narrow as they try to locate the source of the call, but then suddenly they freeze.

"I know you're out there, I can feel you now." Bella speaks to the machines she knows are listening in. "I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us—you're afraid of change. "

An error message appears. _System failure._

"I don't know the future. I didn't tell you how this is going to end—I came here to tell you how this is going to begin."

If the machines could hold their breath while they attempt to process what is happening, they would be.

"Now I'm going to hang up this phone, and I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see; I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible."

At the other end of the receiver, Bella is in a public phone box.

"Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."

She hangs up, giving the programmes a chance to mull over what she has said.

Exiting the booth on a busy street corner, she takes a moment to look around. Digital projections of hundreds of humans still plugged in swarm around, going about their business. Yet Bella blatantly stands there, made all the more conspicuous by her calmness, her stillness, even if her too perfect porcelain skin, yellow eyes and heavy black overcoat over black shirt and pants was not enough to draw attention. The humans both consciously and unconsciously avoid nudging and crowding her.

Bella prepares herself and puts on a pair of cooler than cool shades before looking skywards, looking up to the sun above.

Then she does the unexpected, something impossible. She defies the rule of gravity and flies, soaring up into the air above a dumbfounded digital city below.

**The End**


End file.
